
Class 



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Book ^-Ji^^Si- 



Gof!yTight}|°. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



READINGS 



IN 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



BY 

HUTTON WEBSTER, Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 



Nec historia debet egredi veritatem, 
et honeste factis Veritas sufficit. 

Pliny the Younger, Epistolcs, vii, jj. 



D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 



Copyright, 1913, 
By D. C. Heath & Co. 

I D .3 



.W4-3 



^/.^ 



)CI.A346799 



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PREFACE 

This volume includes selections from the Iliad and the Odyssey, 
and from the writings of Hesiod, Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, 
Plato, Demosthenes, Arrian, Plutarch, Livy, Cicero, Caesar, Sueto- 
nius, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, and Martial. Of the twenty- three 
chapters into which the work is divided, two are devoted to the 
Oriental period (Herodotus) and one to the Germans (Tacitus). 
The other chapters deal with Greek and Roman history as seen 
through the eyes of the classical historians themselves. 

The arrangement of the volume follows, in general, that of my 
Ancient History, pubUshed simultaneously with it. Each chapter 
contains the work of a single author and relates to a single definite 
period or personality. Sufficient editorial matter, in the shape of 
introductions, notes, and connections between passages, has been 
supplied to make the book useful to the beginner in ancient history. 

The translations quoted have been carefully revised with a view 
to uniformity and accuracy. All omissions, save those of a trivial 
character, have been indicated by the usual signs. 

Some parts of the book, for instance, the opening chapter on the 
Oriental peoples and the closing chapter on the Germans, lend 
themselves to intensive study and may serve to provide an elementary 
training in historical criticism. The use of the table of contents and 
of the full index should also suggest helpful topics for essays and 
reports. Thus, the student may be asked to describe the civilization 
of the Homeric Age as revealed in the accounts of the Shield of 
Achilles and the Palace of Alcinous (sees. 13, 16), to set forth the old 
Roman character as illustrated by the stories of Brutus, Mucins 
Scaevola, and Cincinnatus (sees. 68, 70, 73), to contrast Caesar's 
statements about the Germans with the later statements by Tacitus 
(sees. 94, 1 19-124), to make a comparative study of the Egyptian, 
Persian, and Gallic priesthoods (sees. i. 3," 93). Similar subjects, 
involving some discipline of the critical faculty, some exercise of the 
mental powers in discrimination and judgment, should readily 
occur to the teacher. 



iv PREFACE 

My book, however, is not so much a classroom manual as a volume 
for supplementary reading. In choosing the selections, I have been 
influenced mainly by the desire to provide immature pupils with a 
variety of extended, unified, and interesting extracts on matters 
which a textbook treats with necessary, though none the less de- 
plorable, condensation. Particular emphasis, therefore, has been 
placed on biography and entertaining narrative. If the work shall 
help to arouse in the student's mind an attitude of sympathetic 
appreciation for the great characters and the great deeds of classical 
antiquity, it will have fulfilled its purpose. 

I wish to acknowledge here with hearty thanks the permission 
graciously granted to me by the Delegates of the Clarendon Press 
and by Prof. A. W. Mair of Edinburgh University, to use the extracts 
from Hesiod, by Messrs. G. Bell and Sons, to reproduce certain passages 
from Mr. E. J. Chinnock's version of Arrian, and by the Walter 
Scott Publishing Company, to insert various letters of Pliny the 
Younger, as rendered by Mr. J. B. Firth. The selections from 
Xenophon, translated by the late H. G. Dakyns, and from Caesar, 
translated by Mr. T. Rice Holmes, are used through an agreement 
with the publishers, Macmillan and Company, London. 

HUTTON WEBSTER 

Lincoln, Nebraska 
March, igij 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Three Oriental Peoples as Described by Herodotus i 

1. The Egyptians i 

2. Babylon and the Babylonians 6 

3. The Persians 9 

II. The Founders of the Persian Empire: Cyrus, Cambyses, 

AND Darius ., 13/ 

4. CrcEsus and Solon 13 

5. Crcesus and Cyrus 16 

6. The Death of Cyrus 18 

7. The Madness of Cambyses 20 

8. Accession of Darius 22 

9. Darius in Scythia 24 

III. Early Greek Society as Pictured in the Homeric Poems 26 

10. A Popular Assembly 26 

11. Odysseus and Thersites 28 

12. Hector and Andromache 30 

13. The Shield of Achilles 33 

14. Funeral Rites of Patroclus 36 

15. Nausicaa 38 

16. The Palace of Alcinous 40 

17. The Story of Eumseus 42 

IV. Stories from Greek Mythology 46 

18. The Struggle between Zeus and the Titans .... 46 

19. Prometheus and Pandora 48 

20. The Five Races of Man 50 

V. Some Greek Tyrants 53 

21. Cypselus and Periander, Tyrants of Corinth • • • 53 

22. Clisthenes of Sicyon 54 

23. Pisistratus of Athens 57 

24. Polycrates, Tyrant of Samos 60 

VI. §PARTAN Education and Life 63 

25. Education of Boys 63 

26. Social Customs 65 

27. Characteristics of the Spartan State 67 



vi CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

VII. Xerxes and the Persian Invasion of Greece ... 69 

28. Preparations of Xerxes 69 

29. The Persian Host on the March 71 

" 30. Passage of the Hellespont 74 

31. The Battle at the Pass of Thermopylae 76 

32. Repulse of the Persians from Delphi 79 

33. Capture of the Athenian Acropohs 81 

34. The Battle of Salamis 82 

VIII Episodes from the Peloponnesian War 85 

35. The Athenian and the Spartan Character .... 85 

36. Funeral Speech of Pericles 87 

37. The Plague at Athens 89 

38. The Sicilian E.xpedition: Departure of the Fleet . . 91 

39. The Sicilian Expedition: Naval Battle at Syracuse . 93 

40. The Sicilian Expedition: Flight and Capture of the 

Athenians 94 

IX. Alcibiades the Athenian 98 

41. Boyhood and Early Youth 98 

42. Public Life 102 

X. The Expedition of the Ten Thousand 108 

43. The March to the Euphrates 108 

44. The Death of Cyrus iii 

45. The March to the Black Sea 112 

XI. The Tri.4l and Death of Socrates 120 

46. Socrates Accused 120 

47. Trial of Socrates 123 

48. Socrates in Prison 125 

49. Death of Socrates 126 

XII. Demosthenes and the Struggle against Philip . . 129 

50. The Third Philippic 129 

51. Oration on the Crown 132 

XIII. Exploits of Alexander the Great 138 

52. The Gordian Knot i39 

53. Alexander's Treatment of the Family of Darius . . 140 

54. A Letter from Alexander to Darius 141 

55. Visit to the Temple of Amon 141 

56. The Pursuit and Death of Darius 143 

57. Capture of the Sogdian Rock i44 

58. Alexander and Porus 146 



CONTENTS vii 

CHAPTER PAGE 

59. The March through the Desert of Gedrosia . . . 147 

60. Plans of Alexander 14Q 

61. A Speech by Alexander . 150 

62. Alexander's Character 151 

XIV. Legends of Early Rome 154 

63. The Founding of Rome 154 

64. Rape of the Sabine Women 156 

65. War with the Sabines 157 

66. Death of Romulus 158 

67. The Affair at Gabii 159 

68. Execution of the Sons of Brutus 160 

69. The Exploit of Horatius 161 

70. The Deed of Mucius Scjevola 163 

71. Coriolanus and the Roman Matrons 164 

72. The Fabian Gens and the War against Veil .... 165 

73. Cincinnatus the Dictator 167 

74. Capture of Veil 168 

75. Sack of Rome by the Gauls i68 

76. Repulse of the Gauls from the Capitol 169 

77. Condemnation of Marcus Manlius 171 

XV. Hannibal and the Great Punic War 174 

78. Passage of the Alps 174 

79. Dictatorship of Fabius Maximus 176 

80. Battle of Cannffi 180 

81. After Cannae 183 

XVI. Cato the Censor: a Roman of the Old School . . 186 

82. Anecdotes of His Public Career 186 

83. Cato's Censorship 189 

84. Cato in His Family 190 

85. Later Life 191 

XVII. Cicero the Orator 193 

86. First Verrine Oration 193 

87. First Oration against Catiline 196 

88. Second Oration against Catiline 198 

89. The Second Philippic 199 

XVTII. The Conquest of Gaul, Related by Cesar .... 204 

90. The First Invasion of Germany 204 

91. The First Invasion of Britain . . . . . . . 206 

92. Britain and its Inhabitants 208 



viii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

93. The Gauls 210 

94. The Germans 212 

95. Vercingetorix and the Last Struggle of the Gauls . . 214 

XIX. The Makers of Impemal Rome: Character Sketches 

BY Suetonius 218 

96. Julius Caesar 218 

97. Cffisar Augustus 221 

XX. Nero: a Roman- Emperor 227 

98. Murder of Britannicus 227 

99. Murder of Agrippina 230 

100. The Great Fire at Rome 232 

loi. Death of Seneca 235 

102. Death of Petronius 237 

XXI. Roman Life as Seen in Pliny's Letters 240 

103. Pliny's Wife 240 

104. Pliny to His Wife Calpurnia 241 

105. A Visit to Spurinna 241 

106. Pliny the Elder 243 

107. Treatment of Children 244 

108. Slaves' Vengeance ' . . 245 

109. On the Treatment of Slaves 245 

no. A Gladiatorial Show at Verona 246 

111. The Games of the Circus 247 

112. Entertainments at Banquets 247 

113. The Eruption of Vesuvius, 79 a.d 248 

114. Pliny to Trajan regarding the Christians .... 250 

115. Trajan in Answer to Pliny 252 

XXII. A Satirist of Roman Society 253 

116. Some " Characters " of the Capital City 253 

117. Some Good Advice 255 

118. Aspects of Life at Rome and in Italy 256 



XXIII. The Germans as Described by Tacitus 261 

119. Land and People 261 

120. Government 263 

121. Religion 264 

122. Mihtary Customs 265 

123. Domestic Relations 266 

124. Private and Social Life 266 



Index and Pronouncing Vocabulary 269 



READINGS IN ANCIENT 
HISTORY 

CHAPTER I 

THREE ORIENTAL PEOPLES AS DESCRIBED BY 
HERODOTUS 1 

About the middle of the fifth century before Christ, 
an enterprising Greek, named Herodotus, set forth upon a 
series of travels which led him to all parts of the civihzed 
world. By dint of sharp questioning and close observa- 
tion, Herodotus gained a rich fund of information about 
lands and peoples, the very existence of which was 
unknown to many of his countrymen. His impressions 
are those of an intelUgent tourist who, ignorant of any 
language except his own, spends a few months in a foreign 
land, busily occupied with sight-seeing. What Herod- 
otus tells us is always interesting, often true, seldom very 
profound. But we must accept our author for what he 
is — the first and the most charming of story-tellers. 

1. The Egyptians 2 

Concerning Egypt itself I shall extend my remarks to a 
great length, because there is no country that possesses so many 
wonders, or any that has such a number of works which defy 
description. Not only is the climate different from that of 
the rest of the world, and the rivers unlike any other rivers, 

^ Herodotus. The translation of George Rawlinson, edited by A. J. 
Grant. 2 vols. London, 1897. John Murray. 
* Herodotus, ii, 35-37, 65-67, 78, 80, 84-86, 123. 



2 THREE ORIENTAL PEOPLES 

but the people also, in most of their manners and customs, 
exactly reverse the common practice of mankind. The women 
attend the markets and trade, while the men sit at home at 
the loom. While the rest of the world works the woof up the 
warp, the Egyptians work it down. The women Hkewise carry 
burdens upon their shoulders, while the men carry them upon 
their heads .... A woman cannot serve in the priestly office, 
either for god or goddess, but men are priests to both. Sons 
need not support their parents unless they choose, but daughters 
must, whether they wish to do so or not. 

In other countries the priests have long hair; in Egypt 
their heads are shaven. Elsewhere it is customary, in mourn- 
ing, for near relatives to cut their hair close. The Egyptians, 
however, who wear no hair at any other time, when they lose 
a relative, let their beards and the hair of their heads grow long. 
All other men pass their lives separate from animals; the 
Eg5^tians have animals always Hving with them. Others 
make barley and wheat their food; it is a disgrace to do so in 
Egypt, where the grain they live on is spelt.^ . . . Dough 
they knead with their feet; but they mix mud, and even take 
up dirt, with their hands. . . . Their men wear two garments 
apiece, their women but one. They put on the rings and fasten 
the ropes to sails inside ; others put them outside. When they 
write or calculate, instead of going, like the Greeks, from left 
to right, they move the hand from right to left. They insist, 
notwithstanding, that it is they who go to the right, and the 
Greeks who go to the left. They have two quite different 
kinds of writing, one of which is called sacred, the other 
common.^ 

They are religious to excess, far beyond any other race of 
men, and use the following ceremonies. They drink out of 

1 One of the most ancient of the varieties of wheat. It is still raised in 
parts of Europe. 

2 A reference to the so-called hieratic writing, and to the demotic or popu- 
lar script of the Egyptians in the time of Herodotus. Hieratic writing was 
a simpler form of the earlier hieroglyphics. Demotic writing, derived from 
hieratic, came into use about 700 b. c. 



THE EGYPTIANS 3 

brazen cups, which they scour every day. To this practice 
there is no exception. They wear linen garments, which they 
are specially careful to have always fresh washed. . . . The 
priests shave the whole body every other day, that no impure 
thing may adhere to them when they are engaged in the service 
of the gods. Their dress is entirely of linen, and their shoes 
of the papyrus plant. It is not lawful for them to wear either 
dress or shoes of any other material. They bathe twice every 
day in cold water, and twice each night; besides which they 
observe, so to speak, thousands of ceremonies. They enjoy, 
however, not a few advantages. They consume none of their 
own property, and are at no expense for anything. Every 
day bread is baked for them of the sacred corn, and a plentiful 
supply of beef and of goose flesh is assigned to each, and also 
a portion of wine made from the grape. Fish they are not 
allowed to eat. . . . The priests will not even look at beans, 
which are considered unclean. Instead of a single priest, 
each god has the attendance of a college, at the head of which 
is a chief priest. When one of these dies, his son is appointed 
in his place. . . . 

Egypt, though it borders upon Libya, ^ is not a region abound- 
ing in wild animals. The animals that do exist in the country, 
whether domesticated or otherwise, are all regarded as sacred. 
If I were to explain why they are consecrated to the several 
gods, I should be led to speak of religious matters, which I 
particularly shrink from mentioning. . . . The inhabitants 
of the various cities, when they have made a vow to any god, 
pay it to his animals in the way which I will now explain. At 
the time of making the vow they shave the head of the child, 
cutting ofif all the hair, or else half, or sometimes a third part. 
This they then weigh in a balance against a sum of silver. 
Whatever sum the hair weighs is presented to the guardian of 
the animals, who thereupon cuts up some fish, and gives it to 
them for food. . . . When a man has killed one of the sacred 
animals, if he did it with intentional malice, he is punished 

^ The ancient name for the continent of Africa exclusive of Egypt. 



4 THREE ORIENTAL PEOPLES 

with death; if unwittingly, he has to pay such a fine as the 
priests choose to impose. When, however, an ibis or a hawk 
is killed, whether by accident or on purpose, the man must 
needs die. 

The number of domestic animals in Egypt is very great. . . . 
On every occasion of a fire in Egypt the strangest prodigy occurs 
with the cats. The inhabitants allow the fire to rage as it 
pleases, while they stand about at intervals and watch these 
animals, which, slipping by the men or else leaping over them, 
rush headlong into the flames. When this happens, the Eg}^- 
tians are in deep affliction. If a cat dies in a private house by 
a natural death, all the inmates of the house shave their eye- 
brows; on the death of a dog they shave the head and the 
whole of the body. The cats on their decease are taken to 
the city of Bubastis,^ where they are embalmed, after which 
they are buried in sacred repositories. The dogs are interred 
in the cities to which they belong, likewise in sacred burial 
places. . . . The bears, which are scarce in Egypt, and the 
wolves, which are not much bigger than foxes, they bury 
wherever they happen to find them lying. . . . 

In social meetings among the rich, when the banquet is 
ended, a servant carries round to the several guests a coffin. 
In it there is a wooden image of a corpse, carved and painted 
to resemble nature as nearly as possible, about a cubit or two 
cubits in length. As he shows it to each guest in turn, the 
servant says, "Gaze here, and drink and be merry; for when 
you die, such wiU you be." . . . 

There is custom in which the Egyptians resemble a particular 
Greek people, namely the Spartans. Their young men, when 
they meet their elders in the streets, give way to them and 
step aside; and if an elder comes in where youths are present, 
the latter rise from their seats. In another respect they 
differ entirely from all the peoples of Greece. Instead of 
speaking to each other when they meet in the streets, they make 
an obeisance, sinking the hand to the knee. . . , 

1 In the Delta. 



THE EGYPTIANS 5 

Each physician treats a single disorder, and no more. The 
country, therefore, swarms with medical practitioners. Some 
undertake to cure diseases of the eye, others of the head, others 
again of the teeth . . . and some treat diseases which are not 
local. 

The following is the way in whidi they conduct their mourn- 
ings and their funerals. On the death of a man of consequence, 
the women of his family at once plaster their heads, and some- 
times even their faces, with mud. Then, leaving the body 
indoors, they sally forth and wander through the city, with 
their dress fastened by a band, and their bosoms bare, beating 
themselves as they walk. All the female relations join them 
and do the same. The men, too, similarly begirt, beat their 
breasts in like manner. When these ceremonies are over, the 
body is carried away to be embalmed. 

There are a set of men in Egypt who practice the art of 
embalming and make it their proper business. These persons, 
when a body is brought to them, show the bearers various 
models of corpses, made in wood, and painted so as to resemble 
nature. The most perfect is said to be after the manner of 
him whom I do not think it religious to name in connection 
with such a matter.^ The second sort is inferior to the first, 
and less costly; the third is the cheapest of all. All this the 
embalmers explain, and then ask in which way it is wished that 
the corpse should be prepared. The bearers tell them, and 
having concluded their bargain, take their departure, while 
the embalmers, left to themselves, proceed with their task. . . . 

The Egyptians were the first to broach the opinion that 
the soul of man is immortal. They believe that, when the body 
dies, it enters into the form of an animal which is born at the 
moment. Thence it passes on from one animal into another, 
until it has circled through the forms of all the creatures which 
tenant the earth, the water, and the air, after which it enters 
again into a human frame and is born anew. The whole period 
of the transmigration is (they say) three thousand years. . . . 
* A reference to the Egyptian divinity Osiris. 



6 THREE ORIENTAL PEOPLES 

2. Babylon and the Babylonians* 

. . . Babylonia possesses a vast number of great cities, of 
which the most renowned and strongest is Babylon. . . . The 
city stands on a broad plain, and is an exact square, a hundred 
and twenty furlongs ^ in length each way, so that the entire 
circuit is four hundred and eighty furlongs. In magnificence 
there is no other city that compares with Babylon. It is 
surrounded, in the first place, by a broad and deep moat, full 
of water, behind which rises a wall fifty royal cubits in width 
and two hundred in height.^ . . . 

And here I must not omit to tell the use to which the earth 
dug out of the great moat was turned, and the way the wall 
was made. As fast as they dug the moat, the soil obtained 
from the cutting was formed into bricks. When a sufficient 
number were completed they baked the bricks in kilns. Then 
they set to building, and began with bricking in the borders 
of the moat. Afterwards they proceeded to construct the 
wall itself, using throughout for their cement hot bitumen,* 
and interposing a layer of wattled reeds at every thirtieth 
course of the bricks. On the top, along the edges of the wall, 
they constructed buildings of a single chamber facing one 
another, leaving between them room for a four-horse chariot 
to turn. In the circuit of the wall are a hundred gates, all 
of brass, with brazen lintels and side-posts. . . . 

The city is divided into two portions by the river which runs 
through the midst of it. This river is the Euphrates, a broad, 

^ Herodotus, i, 178-181, 193-195, 197. 

2 A furlong is one-eighth of a mile. 

' According to this exaggerated statement, the wall would be nearly 
400 feet high. The ideas of the enormous dimensions and magnificence of 
Babylon, conveyed by Herodotus, have not been borne out by recent excava- 
tions upon the site of the city. Explorations conducted by the German 
Oriental Society have shown that in its most prosperous days Babylon 
covered little over one square mile of territory. Its famous wall was only 
about thirty feet high and four miles long. Instead of the hundred gates 
described by Herodotus, it had but four. 

* Bitumen is a kind of pitch. 



BABYLON AND THE BABYLONIANS 7 

deep, swift stream, which rises in Armenia, and empties itself 
into the Erythraean Sea.^ The city wall is brought down on 
both sides to the edge of the stream. From the corners of the 
wall, a fence of burnt bricks is carried along each bank of the 
river. The houses are mostly three and four stories high. 
The streets all run in straight lines, not only those parallel to 
the river, but also the cross streets which lead down to the 
water-side. At the river end of these cross streets are low 
gates in the fence that skirts the stream. They are of brass, 
as are the great gates in the outer wall, and open on the water. 

The outer wall is the main defense of the city. There is, 
however, a second inner wall, of less thickness than the first, 
but very Uttle inferior to it in strength. The center of each 
division of the town was occupied by a fortress. In the one 
stood the palace of the kings, surrounded by a wall of great 
strength and size. In the other was the sacred precinct of 
Zeus Belus,^ a square enclosure two furlongs each way, with 
gates of solid brass. ... In the middle of the precinct there 
was a tower of solid masonry, a furlong in length and breadth, 
upon which was raised a second tower, and on that a third, 
and so on up to eight. The ascent to the top is on the outside, 
by a path which winds round all the towers. When one is 
about half-way up, one finds seats on which persons are wont to 
rest during their climb to the summit. On the topmost tower 
there is a spacious temple, and inside the temple stands a couch 
of unusual size, richly adorned, with a golden table by its side. 
There is no statue of any kind set up in the place. . . . 

Very little rain falls in Babylonia. It is enough, however, 
to make the corn begin to sprout, after which the plant is 
nourished by means of irrigation from the river. For the 
river does not, as in Egypt, overflow the corn-lands of its own 
accord, but is spread over them by the hand, or by the help of 
engines. The whole of Babylonia is, like Eg^'pt, intersected 
with canals. The largest of them all . . . is carried from the 

1 The Indian Ocean. 

^ The Babylonian god, Bel-Merodach. 



.^> 



8 THREE ORIENTAL PEOPLES 

Euphrates into another stream, called the Tigris, the river 
upon which the town of Nineveh formerly stood. 
"""Of all the countries that we know there is no other so 
fruitful in grain. It makes no pretension, indeed, of growing 
the fig, the olive, the vine, or any other tree of the kind. But 
in grain it is so fruitful as to yield commonly two hundred-fold, 
and when the production is greatest, even three hundred-fold.^ 
The blade of the wheat-plant and barley-plant is often four 
fingers in breadth. As for the millet and the sesame, I shall 
not say to what height they grow, though within my own 
knowledge; for I am not ignorant that what I have already 
written concerning the fruitfulness of Babylonia must seem 
incredible to those who have never visited the country. . . . 
Palm-trees grow in great numbers over the whole of the flat 
country, mostly of the kind which bears fruit, and this fruit 
supplies them with bread, wine, and honey. . . . The natives 
tie the fruit of the male palms, as they are called by the Greeks, 
to the branches of the date-bearing palm, to let the gall-fly 
enter the dates and ripen them. . . . The male palms, Uke 
the wild fig-trees, have usually the gall-fly in their fruit. 

But that wliich surprises me most in the land, after the city 
itself, I win now proceed to mention. The boats which come 
down the river to Babylon are circular, and made of skins.^ 
The frames, which are of willow, are cut in the country of the 
Armenians above Assyria. A covering of skins is stretched 
outside the frames, and thus the boats are made, without either 
stem or stern, quite round like a shield. They are then entirely 
filled with straw, and their cargo is put on board, after which 
they are sufifered to float down the stream. Their chief freight 
is wine, stored in casks made of the wood of the palm-tree. 
They are managed by two men who stand upright in them, 

1 Very probably an exaggerated statement. At present, the yield is only 
some thirty or forty-fold. 

2 Boats such as Herodotus describes, made usually of wicker work covered 
v/ith native asphalt, are still used in this region. The boatmen scull their 
craft with a broad, singlc-bladed paddle. 



THE PERSIANS 9 

each plying an oar, one pulling and the other pushing. The 
boats are of various sizes. . . . Each vessel has a live ass on 
board; those of larger size have more than one. When they 
reach Babylon, the cargo is landed and offered for sale. After 
this the men break up their boats, sell the straw and the frames, 
and loading their asses with the skins, set off on their way back 
to Armenia. The current is too strong to allow a boat to 
return up-stream, for which reason they make their boats of 
skins rather than wood. On their return to Armenia they 
build fresh boats for the next voyage. 

The dress of the Babylonians is a linen tunic reaching to the 
feet, and above it another tunic made of wool. Besides these 
garments they wear a short white cloak and shoes of a peculiar 
fashion, not unlike those worn by the Boeotians.^ They have 
long hair, wear turbans on their heads, and anoint the whole 
body with perfumes. Every one carries a seal and a walking- 
stick. The latter is carved at the top into the form of an 
apple, a rose, a lily, an eagle, or something similar. It is not 
their habit to use a stick without an ornament. . . . 

The following practice seems to me to be very wise. They 
have no physicians, but when a man is ill, they lay him in the 
public square, and the passers-by come up to him. If they 
have ever had his disease themselves, or have known anyone 
who has suffered from it, they give him advice, recommending 
him to do whatever they found good in their own case, or in 
the case known to them. No one is allowed to pass the sick 
man in silence without asking him what his ailment is. 

3. The Persians 2 

The customs which I know the Persians to observe are the 
following. They have no images of the gods, no temples or 
altars, and consider the use of them a sign of folly. This comes, 
I think, from their not believing the gods to have the same 
nature \^dth men as the Greeks imagine. The Persians, however, 

^ Natives of Bceotia, one of the states of Greece. 
* Herodotus, i, 131-140. 



lo THREE ORIENTAL PEOPLES 

ascend the summits of the loftiest mountains, and there offer 
sacrifice to Zeus/ which is the name they give to the whole 
circuit of the firmament. They likewise sacrifice to the sim 
and moon, to the earth, to fire, to water, and to the winds. 
These are the only gods whose worship has come down to them 
from ancient times. . . . 

The Persians offer sacrifice in the following manner. They 
raise no altar, light no fire, pour no libations. There is no 
sound of the flute, no putting on of chaplets, no consecrated 
barley-cake. The man who wishes to sacrifice simply brings 
his victim to a spot of ground which is pure from pollution, 
and there calls upon the name of the god to whom he intends 
to offer. It is usual to have the turban encircled with a wreath, 
most commonly of myrtle. The sacrificer is not allowed to 
pray for blessings on himself alone, but he prays for the wel- 
fare of the king, and of the whole Persian people, among whom 
he is of necessity included. He cuts the victim in pieces, and 
having boiled the flesh, he lays it out upon the tenderest herbage 
that he can find. . . . When all is ready, one of the Magi ^ 
comes forward and chants a hymn, which, they say, recounts 
the origin of the gods. It is not lawful to offer sacrifice un- 
less there is a Magus present. After waiting a short time the 
sacrificer carries the flesh of the victim away with him, and 
makes whatever use of it he may please. 

Of all the days in the year, the one which they celebrate 
most is their birthday. It is customary to have the table 
furnished on that day with an ampler supply than common. 
The richer Persians cause an ox, a horse, a camel, and an ass 
to be baked whole and so served up to them ; the poorer classes 
use the smaller kinds of cattle. They eat httle solid food but 
abundance of dessert, which is set on the table a few dishes at 
a time. It is this custom which makes them say that " the 
Greeks, when they eat, leave off hungry, having nothing worth 

1 A reference to the Persian supreme god, Ahura-Mazda, whom Herodo- 
tus identifies with the Greek Zeus. 

2 The Magi (singular, Magus) were the priests of the Persians. 



THE PERSIANS ii 

mention served up to them after the meats; whereas, if they 
had more put before them, they would not stop eating." . , . 

The Persians are very fond of wine. It is their practice to 
deliberate upon affairs of weight when they are drunk. On 
the morrow, when they are sober, the decision they reached 
on the preceding night is put before them by the master of the 
house in which it was made. If the decision is then approved, 
they act on it; if not, they set it aside. Sometimes, how- 
ever, they are sober at their first deliberation, but in this case 
they always reconsider the matter under the influence of wine. 

When they meet each other in the streets, you may know 
that the persons meeting are of equal rank ... if, instead of 
speaking, they kiss each other on the lips. In the case where 
one is a little inferior to the other, the kiss is given on the cheek. 
Where the difference of rank is great, the inferior prostrates 
himself upon the ground. . . . 

There is no nation which so readily adopts foreign customs 
as the Persians. Thus, they have taken the dress of the Medes, 
considering it superior to their own; and in war they wear the 
Egyptian breastplate. As soon as they hear of any luxury, 
they instantly make it their own. . . . 

Next to bravery in battle, it is regarded as the greatest prqof 
of manly excellence to be the father of many sons. Every 
year the king sends rich gifts to the man who can show the 
largest number; for they hold that number is strength. Their 
sons are carefully instructed from their fifth to their twentieth 
year, in three things alone: to ride, to draw the bow, and to 
speak the truth. Until their fifth year they are not allowed 
to come into the sight of their father, but pass their lives with 
the women. This is done that, if the child dies young, the 
father may not be afflicted by its loss. 

To my mind the following are v\ise rules — that the king 
shall not put anyone to death for a single fault, and that none 
of the Persians shall visit a single fault in a slave with any 
extreme penalty. In every case the services of the offender 
must be set against his misdoings. If the latter are found to 



12 THREE ORIENTAL PEOPLES 

outweigh the former, the aggrieved party only then shall pro- 
ceed to punishment. . . . 

The most disgraceful thing in the world, they think, is to 
tell a lie; the next worst, to owe a debt; because, among other 
reasons, the debtor is obliged to tell Hes. If a Persian has the 
leprosy, he is not allowed to enter into a city or to have any 
dealings with the other Persians. He must, they say, have 
sinned against the sun. Foreigners attacked by this disorder 
are forced to leave the country: even white pigeons are often 
driven away, as guilty of the same offense. . . . There is another 
peculiarity, which the Persians themselves have never noticed, 
but which has not escaped my observation. Their names, 
which are expressive of some bodily or mental excellence, all 
end with the same letter — the letter which is called San by 
the Dorians and Sigma by the lonians.^ ' Anyone who ex- 
amines will find that the Persian names, one and all without 
exception, end with this letter.^ 

Thus much I can declare of the Persians with entire certainty, 
from my own actual knowledge. There is another custom 
which is spoken of with reserve, and not openly, concerning 
their dead. It is said that the body of a male Persian is never 
biyied, until it has been torn either by a dog or a bird of prey. 
That the Magi have this custom is beyond a doubt, for they 
practice it without any concealment. The dead bodies are 
covered with wax and are then buried in the ground. 

The Magi are a very peculiar race, differing entirely from 
the Egyptian priests, and indeed from all other men whatsoever. 
The Egj^Dtian priests make it a point of religion not to kill any 
live animals except those which they offer in sacrifice. The 
Magi, on the contrary, kill animals of all kinds with their own 
hands, excepting dogs and men. They think they do a meri- 
torious act to destroy ants, snakes, and other flying or creeping 
things. However, since this has always been their custom, 
let them keep it. . . . 

1 Dorians and lonians were two divisions of the Greek race. 
^ Herodotus is mistaken in this statement. 



CHAPTER II 

THE FOUNDERS OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE: CYRUS, 
CAMBYSES, AND DARIUS ^ 

Around the personalities of the first three Persian kings 
there soon gathered a great mass of legendary material, 
for aU of which Herodotus finds a place in his history. 
Until the ancient records of the Orient had been deci- 
phered, the stories which Herodotus tells were generally ac- 
cepted by historians. Now, however, we are able to check 
his statements by reference to the monuments and inscrip- 
tions. These give a far more prosaic account of Oriental 
history than that which we find in the fascinating pages 
of Herodotus. The student who reads his chapters on the 
Orient must never forget that* he is learning what the 
Greeks of antiquity thought about their eastern neighbors 
rather than what modern historians know concerning them. 

4. Croesus and Solon* 

The found,ations of the mighty Persian Empire were 
laid by Cyrus the Great. A successful revolt against his 
brother-in-law, the Median monarch Astyages, enabled 
Cyrus to unite the Medes and Persians under his single 
sway. Encouraged by this success he now entered on 
a career of wider conquests. In the west his most for- 
midable rival was the famous Croesus, king of Lydia 

^ Herodotus. The translation of George Rawlinson, edited by A. J. 
Grant. 2 vols. London, 1897. John Murray. 
* Herodotus, i, 29-33. 



14 FOUNDERS OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE 

(560-546 B.C.), who had built up an empire that included 
the larger part of Asia Minor. 

\Vhen all these dominions had been added to the Lydian 
Empire and the prosperity of Sardis ^ was at its height, there 
came thither, one after another, all the wise men of Greece, 
living at the time. Among them was Solon the Athenian. 
He was on his travels, having left Athens to be absent ten 
years, under the pretense of wishing to see the world. Really 
it was to avoid being forced to repeal any of the laws which, 
at the request of the Athenians, he had made for them. With- 
out his sanction the Athenians could not repeal them, as they 
had bound themselves under a heavy curse to be governed for 
ten years by the laws which should be imposed on them by 
Solon. 

On this account, as well as to see the world, Solon set out 
upon his travels. In the course of these he went to Egypt 
to the court of Amasis,^ and also came on a visit to Croesus at 
Sardis. Croesus received him as his guest and lodged him in 
the royal palace. On the third or fourth day after, he bade 
his servants conduct Solon over his treasuries, and show him 
all their greatness and magnificence. When he had seen them 
all, and as far as time allowed, inspected them, Croesus addressed 
this question to him, "Stranger of Athens, we have heard 
much of thy wisdom and of thy travels through many lands, 
from love of knowledge and a wish to see the world. I am 
curious, therefore, to inquire of thee, whom, of all the men that 
thou hast seen, thou deemest the most happy." This Croesus 
asked because he thought himself the happiest of mortals. 
But Solon answered him without flattery, "Tellus of Athens." 
Full of astonishment at what he heard, Croesus demanded 
sharply, "And wherefore dost thou deem Tellus happiest?" 
The other replied, "First, because his country was flourishing 
in his lifetime, and he himself had sons both beautiful and good, 

1 The capital of Lydia. ^ Amasis II (570-525 B. c). 



CRCESUS AND SOLON 15 

and he lived to see children born to each of them, and these 
children all grew up. Further, because, after a life spent in 
what our people look upon as comfort, his end was surpassingly 
glorious. In a battle between the Athenians and their neigh- 
bors he came to the assistance of his countrymen, routed the 
foe, and died upon the field most gallantly. The Athenians 
gave him a public funeral on the spot where he fell, and paid 
him the highest honors." . . . 

When Solon had ended, Croesus inquired a second time, 
who after Tellus seemed to him the happiest, expecting that, 
at any rate, he would be given the second place. "Cleobis 
and Bito," Solon answered. " They were of Argive ^ race ; their 
fortune was enough for their wants; and they were endowed 
with such bodily strength that they both gained prizes at the 
Olympic games. Of these two men this tale is told : — There 
was a great festival in honor of the goddess Hera at Argos, to 
which their mother must needs be taken in a car. Since the 
oxen did not come home from the field in time, the youths, 
fearful of being too late, put the yoke on their own necks, and 
themselves pulled the car in which their mother rode. Five 
and forty furlongs did they draw her, and then stopped before 
the temple. This deed of theirs was witnessed by the whole 
assembly of worshipers, and then their life closed in the best 
possible way. Herein, too, God showed forth most evidently, 
how much better a thing for man death is than life. For the 
Argive men who stood around the car, extolled the vast strength 
of the youths ; and the Argive women extolled the mother who 
was blessed with such a pair of sons. And the mother herself, 
overjoyed at the deed and at the praises it had won . . . be- 
sought the goddess to bestow on Cleobis and Bito, the sons 
who had so mightily honored her, the highest blessing to which 
mortals can attain. Her prayer ended, they offered sacrifice 
and partook of the holy banquet. After this the two youths 
fell asleep in the temple. They never woke again, but so 
passed from earth. The Argives, looking on them as among 

* Natives of Argos, a famous Peloponnesian city. 



i6 FOUNDERS OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE 

the best of men, caused statues of them to be made, which 
they gave to the shrine at Delphi. " ^ 

When Solon had thus assigned these youths the second place, 
Croesus broke in angrily, "Stranger of Athens, is my happiness, 
then, so utterly set at naught by thee, that thou dost not even 
put me on a level with private men? " 

"O Croesus," replied the other, "thou askest a question 
concerning the condition of man, of one who knows that the 
poAver above us is full of jealousy, and fond of troubling our 
lot. A long life gives one to witness much and experience 
much oneself, that one would not willingly suffer. . . . For 
thyself, O Croesus, I see that thou art wonderfully rich, and art 
the lord of many nations, but with respect to that about which 
thou questionest me, I have no answer to give, until I hear 
that thou hast closed thy life happily. ... In every matter 
it behooves us to mark well the end: for oftentimes God gives 
men a gleam of happiness, and then plunges them into ruin." 

Such was the speech which Solon addressed to Croesus, a 
speech which brought him neither gifts nor honor. The king 
saw him depart with much indifference, since he thought that 
a man must be an arrant fool who made no account of present 
good, but bade men always wait and mark the end,^ 

6. Croesus and Cyrus ^ 

Solon's warning soon came true. Uneasy at the rising 
power of Cyrus, his eastern neighbor, Croesus resolved 
to make war on the Persian king. First he consulted the 
oracle of Apollo at Delphi and learned that the war would 
end in the destruction of a great empire. This ambiguous re- 
sponse encouraged Croesus to begin the conflict with Cyrus. 
It resulted, however, in disaster for the Lydian monarch. 

^ The celebrated oracle of Apollo. 

^ This famous tale of Solon's interview with Croesus cannot be reconciled 
with the received chronology, which places the reforms of Solon at Athens 
and his subsequent travels nearly half a century earlier, 594-593 B. c. 

^ Herodotus, i, 86-87. 



CRCESUS AND CYRUS 17 

Sardis was taken by the Persians, and Croesus himself fell 
into their hands, after having reigned fourteen years. . . . 
Thus, too, did Croesus fulfill the oracle, which said that he 
should destroy a mighty empire — by destroying his own. 
Then the Persians who had made Croesus prisoner brought 
him before Cyrus. Now a vast pile had been raised by his 
orders, and Croesus, laden with fetters, was placed upon it, 
and with him twice seven of the sons of the Lydians. I know 
not whether Cyrus was minded to make an offering to some god 
or other, or whether he had vowed a vow and was performing 
it. Perhaps, as may well be, he had heard that Croesus was a 
holy man, and so wished to see if any of the heavenly powers 
would appear to save him from being burnt alive. ^ . . . 

Croesus was already on the pile, when it entered his mind 
in the depth of his woe that there was a divine warning in the 
words which had come to him from the lips of Solon. . . . 
When this thought smote him he fetched a long breath, and 
breaking his deep silence, groaned out aloud, thrice uttering 
the name of Solon. Cyrus caught the sounds, and bade the 
interpreters inquire of Croesus on whom it was he called. 
They drew near and asked him, but he held his peace, and for 
a long time made no answer to their questionings. At length, 
forced to say something, he exclaimed, "One I would like much 
to see converse with every monarch." Not knowing what he 
meant by this reply, the interpreters begged him to explain 
himself. As they pressed for an answer ... he told them how, 
a long time before, Solon, an Athenian, had come and seen 
all his splendor, and made light of it; and how whatever he had 
said to him had fallen out exactly as he foreshowed. . . . 

Meanwhile, as Croesus thus spoke, the pile was kindled, and 
the outer portion began to blaze. Then Cyrus, hearing from 

^ Another and more probable story of the burning of Croesus describes 
it as a voluntary act, not as a punishment inflicted on him by his Persian 
conqueror. Oriental history contains several references to defeated mon- 
archs who, unable to endure the thought of slavery, consigned themselves 
and their families to the flames. 



i8 FOUNDERS OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE 

the interpreters what Croesus had said, relented. For Cyrus 
considered that he too was a man, and that it was a fellow-man, 
and one who had once been as blessed by fortune as himself, 
that he was burning alive. ... So he bade them quench the 
blazing fire as quickly as they could, and take down Croesus 
and the other Lydians, which they tried to do, but the flames 
were not to be mastered. 

Then . . . Croesus, perceiving by the efforts made to quench 
the fire that Cyrus had relented, and seeing also that all was in 
vain, and that the men could not put out the fire, called with 
a loud voice upon the god Apollo. He besought Apollo, if he 
had ever received at his hands any acceptable gift,^ to come to 
his aid, and deliver him from his present danger. As thus with 
tears he cried to the god, suddenly . . . dark clouds gathered, 
and a storm burst over their heads with rain of such violence, 
that the flames were speedily extinguished. Cyrus, convinced 
by this that Croesus was a good man and a favorite of heaven, 
asked him after he was taken off the pile, "who it was that had 
persuaded him to lead an army into his country, and so become 
his foe rather than continue his friend?" To this inquiry 
Croesus made answer as follows: "What I did, O king, was to 
thy advantage and to my own loss. If there is blame, it rests 
with the god of the Greeks, who encouraged me to begin the 
war. No one is so foolish as to prefer to peace, war, in which, 
instead of sons burying their fathers, fathers bury their sons. 
But the gods willed it so." 

6. The Death of Cyrus 2 

The conquest of Lydia was soon followed by the addi- 
tion of Babylonia to the Persian dominions. Cyrus now 
determined to annex the country of the wild Scythians to 
his empire. Crossing the Araxes River, he led his army 

1 In the days of his prosperity CrcEsus had enriched the oracle of Apollo 
at Delphi with many presents. 
* Herodotus, i, 21 1-2 14. 



THE DEATH OF CYRUS 19 

against the Massagetae, a Scythian tribe Hving east of the 
Caspian under the rule of their queen Tomyris. 

Cyrus, having advanced a day's march from the Araxes, 
adopted a stratagem proposed by Croesus. Leaving the worth- 
less portion of his army in the camp, the Persian king drew 
off with his good troops toward tlae river. Soon afterwards 
a detachment of the Massagetae, led by Spargapises, son of 
the queen Tomyris, attacked the soldiers who had been left 
behind by Cyrus. On their resistance the Massagetae put 
them to the sword. Then, seeing a banquet prepared, they 
sat down and began to feast. When they had eaten and drunk 
their fill, and were now sunk in sleep, the Persians under 
Cyrus arrived, slaughtered a great multitude, and made even a 
larger number prisoners. Among these last was Spargapises 
himself. 

When Tomyris heard what had befallen her son and her 
army, she sent a herald to Cyrus, who thus addressed the con- 
queror: "Thou bloodthirsty Cyrus, pride not thyself on this 
poor success. It was the grape-juice — which, when ye drink 
it, makes you so mad, and as ye swallow it down brings up to 
your lips such bold and wicked words — it was this poison 
wherewith thou didst ensnare my child, and so overcamest 
him, not in fair, open fight. Now hearken to what I advise, 
and be sure I advise thee for thy good. Restore my son to me 
and get thee from the land unharmed, triumphant over a third 
part of the host of the Massagetae. Refuse, and I swear by 
the sun, the sovereign lord of the Massagetae, bloodthirsty as 
thou art, I will give thee thy fill of blood." 

To the words of this message Cyrus paid no manner of regard. 
As for Spargapises, the son of the queen, when his drunkenness 
went off, and he saw the extent of his calamity, he requested 
Cyrus to release him from his bonds. When his prayer was 
granted, and the fetters were taken from his limbs, as soon as 
his hands were free, he destroyed himself. 

Tomyris, when she found that Cyrus paid no heed to her 



20 FOUNDERS OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE 

advice, collected all the forces of her kingdom and gave him 
battle. Of all the combats in which the barbarians have en- 
gaged among themselves, I consider this to have been the 
fiercest. ... At length the Massagetae prevailed. The greater 
part of the army of the Persians was destroyed, and Cyrus 
himself fell, after reigning nine and twenty years. Search was 
made among the slain by order of the queen for the body of 
Cyrus. When it was found, she took a skin, and fiUing it full 
of human blood, she dipped the head of Cyrus in the gore, 
saying, as she thus insulted the corpse, "I live and have con- 
quered thee in fight, and yet by thee am I ruined, for thou 
tookest my son with guile; but thus I make good my threat, 
and give thee thy fill of blood. " ^ . . . 

7. The Madness of Cambyses 2 
Cambyses, son of Cyrus, on attaining the throne, deter- 
mined to add Eg>pt to the Persian Empire. He easily 
defeated the Egyptian troops and took their king captive. 

After this Cambyses left Memphis, and went to Sais,^ wish- 
ing to do that which he actually did on his arrival there. He 
entered the palace of Amasis,"* and straightway ordered that 
the body of the king should be brought forth from the sepulcher. 
When the attendants did according to his commandment, he 
further bade them scourge the body, and prick it with goads, 
and pluck the hair from it, and heap upon it all manner of 
insults. The body, however, having been embalmed, resisted, 
and refused to come apart, do what they would to it. . . . 
Whereupon Cambyses bade them take the corpse and burn it. 
This was truly an impious command to give, for the Persians 
hold fire to be a god, and never by any chance burn their 
dead.^ . . . 

1 With charming simplicity Herodotus remarks, "Of the many different 
accounts which are given of the death of Cyrus, this which I have followed 
appears to me most worthy of credit." 

2 Herodotus, iii, 16, 30, 34-35. ^ Amasis II. See page 14. 
* A city in the Delta. * See page 12. 



THE MADNESS OF CAMBYSES 21 

Cambyses now entered upon a career marked by mis- 
fortune, impiety, and cruelty. Against the Ethiopians he 
sent an army so ill supphed with provisions that the sol- 
diers turned cannibals and devoured one another. A 
second Persian army directed against the Ammonians, who 
lived in an oasis west of Egypt, perished in a desert sand 
storm. Cambyses, moreover, deeply offended the Egyp- 
tians by stabbing the sacred bull or Apis — an act of the 
greatest sacrilege. 

And now Cambyses, who even before had not been quite 
in his right mind, was forthwith, as the Egyptians say, smitten 
with madness for this crime. The first of his outrages was the 
slaying of Smerdis, his full brother. . . . 

He was mad, also, with others besides his kindred; among 
the rest, with Prexaspes, the man whom he esteemed beyond 
all other Persians. He it was who carried his messages, and 
whose son held the office — an honor of no small account in 
Persia — of his cupbearer. Him Cambyses is said to have 
once addressed as follows: "What sort of man, Prexaspes, do 
the Persians think me?" Prexaspes answered, "Oh! sir, they 
praise thee greatly in all things but one — they say thou art 
too much given to love of wine." . . . Cambyses, full of rage, 
made answer, "What! they say now that I drink too much 
wine, and so have lost my senses, and am gone out of my mind! 
Then their former speeches about me were untrue." For 
once, when the Persians were sitting with him, and Croesus 
was by, he had asked them, "What sort of man they thought 
him compared to his father Cyrus?" To this they had an- 
swered, "That he surpassed his father, for he was lord of all 
that his father ever ruled, and further had made himself master 
of Eg}^t and the sea." Then Croesus, who was standing 
near, and disliked the comparison, spoke thus to Cambyses: 
"In my judgment, O son of Cyrus, thou art not equal to thy 
father, for thou hast not yet left behind thee such a son as he." 



2 2 FOUNDERS OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE 

Cambyses was delighted when he heard this reply, and praised 
the judgment of Crcesus. 

Recollecting these answers, Cambyses spoke fiercely to 
Prexaspes, saying, "judge now thyself, Prexaspes, whether 
the Persians tell the truth, or whether it is not they who are 
mad for speaking as they do. Look there now at thy son stand- 
ing in the vestibule — if I shoot and hit him right in the middle 
of the heart, it will be plain the Persians have no grounds for 
what they say: if I miss him, then I admit that the Persians 
are right, and that I am out of my mind." So speaking he drew 
his bow to the full, and struck the boy, who straightway fell 
down dead. Then Cambyses ordered the body to be opened, 
and the wound examined. When the arrow was found to have 
entered the heart, the king was quite overjoyed, and said to 
the father with a laugh, "Now thou seest plainly, Prexaspes, 
that it is not I who am mad, but the Persians who have lost 
their senses. I pray thee tell me, sawest thou ever mortal man 
send an arrow with a better aim ? " Prexaspes, seeing that the 
• king was not in his right mind, and fearing for himself, replied, 
"Oh! my lord, I do not think that God Himself could shoot 
so dexterously." Such was the outrage which Cambyses 
committed at this time. . . . 

8. Accession of Darius ' 

While Cambyses still lingered in Egypt, he learned that 
one of the Magi, who resembled the murdered Smerdis, 
had personated him and had actually seized the throne. 
According to Herodotus, Cambyses set out at once for 
Persia, meaning to punish the impostor, but died suddenly 
in Syria. However the false Smerdis did not rule long. 
In the eighth month of his reign he was killed by some of 
the leading Persian nobles (521 b. c). One of these 
men, Darius by name, is said to have attained the kingship 
in the following singular fashion. 

1 Herodotus, iii, 84-86. 



ACCESSION OF DARIUS 23 

After the death of the false Smerdis the conspirators took 
counsel together, as to the fairest way of setting up a king. . . . 
The resolve to which they came was the following : they would 
ride together next morning to the outskirts of the city, 
and he whose steed first neighed after the sun was up should 
have the kingdom. 

Now Darius had a groom, a sharp-witted fellow, called 
(Ebares. After the meeting had broken up, Darius sent for 
him, and said, "(Ebares, this is the way in which the king is 
to be chosen — we are to mount our horses, and the man whose 
horse first neighs after the sun is up is to have the kingdom. 
If then you have any cleverness, contrive a plan whereby the 
prize may fall to us, and not go to another." "Truly, master," 
CEbares answered, "if it depends on this whether thou shalt 
be king or not, set thine heart at ease, and fear nothing. I 
have a charm which is sure not to fail." "If thou hast really 
anything of the kind," said Darius, "hasten to get it ready. 
The matter does not allow delay, for the trial is to be to-morrow." 
So CEbares . . . when night came, took one of the mares, the 
chief favorite of the horse which Darius rode, and tethering it in 
the suburb, brought his master's horse to the place. Then, after 
leading him round and round the mare several times, and nearer 
at each circuit, he ended by bringing them close together. 

When morning broke, the six Persians, according to agree- 
ment, met together on horseback and rode out to the suburb. 
As they went along, they neared the spot where the mare was 
tethered the night before, whereupon the horse of Darius 
sprang forward and neighed. Just at the same time, though 
the sky was clear and bright, there was a flash of lightning, 
followed by a thunder-clap. It seemed as if the heavens con- 
spired with Darius, and thereby inaugurated him king. So 
the five other nobles leaped with one accord from their steeds, 
and bowed down before him and owned him for their king.^ 

1 It is hardly necessary to point out that this story has no basis in fact. 
It is one of those quaint legends which make the pages of Herodotus enter- 
taining, if not always trustworthy. 



24 FOUNDERS OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE 

9. Darius in Scythia' 

Cyrus had conquered Asia; Cambyses, Africa. Darius 
determined to add Europe to the Persian dominions. 
With a vast army he crossed the Bosporus and quickly 
subdued the inhabitants of Thrace (about 512 B.C.). Hav- 
ing bridged the Danube, he next invaded the territory of 
some Scythian tribes which Hved beyond that river. But 
the barbarians refused a battle, and as Darius advanced, 
ever retreated before him into their northern wilderness. 

The Scythians, when they perceived signs that the Persians 
were becoming alarmed, took steps to induce them not to quit 
Scythia. They hoped, if the Persians stayed, to inflict on 
them the greater injury, when their supplies should altogether 
fail. To effect this the Scythians would leave some of their 
cattle exposed with the herdsmen, while they themselves 
moved away to a distance. The Persians would make a foray, 
and take the beasts, whereupon they would be highly elated. 

This they did several times, until at last Darius was at his 
wit's end. Hereupon the Scythian princes, understanding 
how matters stood, dispatched a herald to the Persian camp 
with presents for the king. These were a bird, a mouse, a frog, 
and five arrows. The Persians asked the bearer to tell them 
what the gifts might mean, but he made answer that he had no 
orders except to deliver them, and return again with all speed. 
If the Persians were wise, he added, they would find out the 
meaning for themselves. So when the Persians heard this, 
they held a council to consider the matter. 

Darius gave it as his opinion, that the Scythians intended to 
surrender themselves and their country, both land and water, 
into his hands. This he conceived to be the meaning of the 
gifts, because the mouse is an inhabitant of the earth, and eats 
the same food as man, while the frog passes his life in the water; 

^ Herodotus, iv, 130-132. 



DARIUS IN SCYTHIA 



25 



the bird bears a great resemblance to the horse; and the arrows 
might signify the surrender of all their power. To the explana- 
tion of Darius, Gobryas, one of the conspirators against the 
false Smerdis, opposed another, which was as follows: "Un- 
less, Persians, ye can turn into birds and fly up into the sky, or 
become mice and burrow under the ground, or make yourselves 
frogs and take refuge in the fens, ye will never get away 
from this land, but die pierced by our arrows." Such were 
the meanings which the Persians assigned to the presents. 

Understanding at length the true significance of the 
Scythian gifts, Darius reluctantly ordered a retreat. He 
recrossed the Danube and the Bosporus and brought back 
into Asia the remnant of his great host. With this first 
invasion of Europe by the army of an Asiatic king, there 
begins the story of those relations between Persia and 
Greece which form the subject of a later chapter.^ 

^ Modem historians believe that this European expedition of Darius was 
by no means so fruitless as Herodotus pictures it. The enterprise added 
Thrace to the Persian Empire and restrained the Scythian tribes in their 
wild maraudings. Hence it seems to have been both a reasonable and a 
successful undertaking. 



CHAPTER III 

EARLY GREEK SOCIETY AS PICTURED IN THE 
HOMERIC POEMS 1 

The Iliad and the Odyssey are not simply the noblest 
examples of epic poetry which have come down to us from 
antiquity. To the historian these two poems are the 
chief source of information for the life and culture of the 
early Greeks before the dawn of history. It is true that 
the poet of the Iliad and the Odyssey professes to relate 
events that in his own time were already ancient; events 
which we may well believe never happened. But if the 
stories he has to tell are pure fictions, the manners and 
customs he describes are not imaginary. The civiliza- 
tion pictured by the poet is mainly that with which he is 
himself familiar. Homer paints the past in the colors of 

his own day. 

10. A Popular Assembly ^ 

The Iliad deals with the events of only a few days dur- 
ing the tenth and last year of the siege of Troy (or Ilium). 
From other poems we learn how Paris, son of Priam the 
Trojan king, carried off to Troy the beautiful Helen, wife 
of Menelaus, king of Sparta; and how the Greek chief- 
tains gathered from far and near to avenge the wrong. 
Under Agamemnon of Mycenae for nine long years the 
Greeks besieged the city. But the Trojans kept behind 

^ The Iliad of Hovier, translated by Lang, Leaf, and Myers. 2d edition. 
London, 1892. Macmillan and Co. The Odyssey of Homer, translated by 
S. H. Butcher and Andrew Lang. London, 1879. Macmillan and Co. 

2 Iliad, ii, 84-154. 



A POPULAR ASSEMBLY 27 

their walls and refused a battle, for they feared the deadly 
might of Achilles, greatest of the Greek heroes. And now 
in the tenth year, from King Agamemnon Achilles suffered 
a grievous insult. Then Achilles withdrew to his hut by 
the seashore and vowed never again to fight for Agamem- 
non. To the Greeks, thereby, came woes innumerable, 
for Zeus the cloud-gatherer had given his pledge that the 
wrong of Achilles should be avenged on Agamemnon and 
all his host. So Zeus sent a deceitful dream to Agamem- 
non beguiUng the king with the hope he might take 
the city of the Trojans. Then Agamemnon called a 
council of the elders and chieftains telling them of his vision 
and bidding them call an assembly of the host. "But 
first I will speak to make trial of them as is fitting, and 
will bid them flee with their benched ships; only do ye 
from this side and from that speak to hold them back." 

So spake he, and led the way forth from the council, and all 
the other sceptered chiefs rose with him and obeyed the shepherd 
of the host; and the people hastened to them. . . . And the 
place of assemblage was in an uproar, and the earth echoed 
again as the hosts sate them down, and there was turmoil. 
Nine heralds restrained them with shouting, if perchance they 
might refrain from clamor, and hearken to their kings, the 
fosterlings of Zeus. And hardly at the last would the people 
sit, and keep them to their benches and cease from noise. Then 
stood up Lord Agamemnon bearing his scepter, that Hephaestus ^ 
had wrought curiously. . . . Thereon he leaned and spake 
his saying to the Argives.^ 

"My friends, Danaan warriors, men of Ares' ^ company, 
Zeus hath bound me with might in grievous blindness of soul. 

* The divine smith. 

^ The Greeks at Troy are spoken of by the poet as Argives, Danaans, and 
Achaeans. 

' God of war. 



28 EARLY GREEK SOCIETY 

Hard of heart is he, for that erewhile he promised me and 
pledged his nod that not till I had wasted well-walled Ilium 
should I return. Now see I that he planned a cruel wile and 
biddeth me return to Argos dishonored, with the loss of many 
of my folk. So meseems it pleaseth most mighty Zeus, who 
hath laid low the head of many a city, yea, and shall lay low; 
for his is highest power. Shame is this even for them that come 
after to hear; how so goodly and great a folk of the Achaeans 
thus vainly warred a bootless war, and fought scantier enemies, 
and no end thereof is yet seen. . . . Already have nine years 
passed away, and our ships' timbers have rotted and the tackUng 
is loosed; while there our wives and Httle children sit in our 
halls awaiting us ; yet is our task utterly unaccompUshed where- 
for we came hither. So come, even as I shall bid, let us all 
obey. Let us flee with our ships to our dear native land; for 
now shall we never take wide-wayed Troy." 

So spake he, and stirred the spirit in the breasts of all through- 
out the multitude, as many as had not heard the counsel. And 
the assembly swayed Hke high sea-waves . . . that east wind 
and south %vind raise, rushing upon them from the clouds of 
Father Zeus. And even as when the west wdnd cometh to stir 
a deep cornfield with violent blast, and the ears bow down, 
so was all the assembly stirred. And they with shouting 
hasted toward the ships; and the dust from beneath their feet 
rose and stood on high. Then each man bade his neighbor to 
seize the ships and drag them into the bright salt sea. . . . 

11. Odysseus and Thersites* 

Then would the Achaeans have accompHshed their 
return against the will of fate, but that the goddess Hera 
spake a word to Athena, bidding her refrain the soldiers 
from their mad design. And Athena darted down from 
the peaks of Olympus and came with speed to the ships 
of the Achaeans. And finding there the wise Odysseus 
1 Iliad, ii, 212-277. 



ODYSSEUS AND THERSITES 29 

she sent him up and down the host to carry out the orders 
of the goddess Hera. Then Odysseus straightway bade the 
warriors sit down and keep their places upon the benches. 

Only Thersites still chattered on, the uncontrolled of speech, 
whose mind was full of words many and disorderly, where- 
with to strive against the chiefs idly and in no good order, but 
even as he deemed that he should make the Argives laugh. 
And he was ill-favored beyond all men that came to Ilium. 
Bandy-legged was he, and lame of one foot, and his two shoulders 
rounded, arched down upon his chest; and over them his head 
was warped, and a scanty stubble sprouted on it. Hateful 
was he to Achilles above all and to Odysseus, for them he was 
wont to revile. 

But now with shrill shout he poured forth his upbraidings 
upon goodly Agamemnon. . . . "Son of Atreus, for what art 
thou now ill content and lacking? Surely thy huts are full of 
bronze and many women are in thy huts, the chosen spoils that 
we Achaeans give thee first of all, whene'er we take a town. 
Can it be that thou yet wantest gold as well, such as some one 
of the horse-taming Trojans may bring from Ilium to ransom 
his son, whom I perchance or some other Achaean have led 
captive ; or else some young girl whom thou mayest keep apart 
to thyself? But it is not seemly for one that is their captain 
to bring the sons of the Achaeans to ill. Soft fools, base things 
of shame, ye women of Achaea and men no more, let us depart 
home with our ships, and leave this fellow here in Troy-land to 
gorge him with meeds of honor." . . . 

So spake Thersites, reviling Agamemnon, shepherd of the 
host. But goodly Odysseus came straight to his side, and 
looking sternly at him with hard words rebuked him: "Ther- 
sites, reckless in words, shrill orator though thou art, refrain 
thyself, nor aim to strive singly against kings. . . . But I will 
tell thee plain, and that I say shall even be brought to pass: 
if I find thee again raving as now thou art, then may Odysseus' 
head no longer abide upon his shoulders. Nor may I any more 



30 EARLY GREEK SOCIETY 

be called father of Telemachus, if I take thee not and strip from 
thee thy garments, thy mantle and tunic that cover thy naked- 
ness, and for thyself send thee weeping to the fleet ships, and 
beat thee out of the assembly with shameful blows." 

So spake Odysseus, and with his staff smote Thersites' back 
and shoulders. And he bowed down and a big tear fell from 
him, and a bloody weal stood up from his back beneath the 
golden scepter. Then he sat down and was amazed, and in 
pain with helpless look wiped away the tear. But the rest, 
though they were sorry, laughed lightly at him. And thus 
would one speak looking at another standing by: "Go to, of 
a truth Odysseus hath wrought good deeds without number 
ere now, standing foremost in wise counsels, and setting battle 
in array, but now is this thing the best by far that he hath 
wrought among the Argives, to wit, that he hath stayed this 
prating railer from his harangues. Never again, forsooth, will 
his proud soul henceforth bid him revile the kings with slander- 
ous words." ^ 

12. Hector and Andromache ^ 

So the tumult subsided and the assembly listened to 
the words of the elders, who bade them make ready for the 
battle. Then the warriors were marshaled tribe by tribe 
and clan by clan upon the broad plain of Troy, and over 
against them were arrayed the Trojans, now no longer 
fearful of the battle. But when they were come in onset 
against each other, the godlike Paris played champion to 
the Trojans and challenged Menelaus to a single combat, 
with Helen and all her wealth for the victor's prize. Then 
the Argives and Trojans swore to observe a truce until the 
combat should be decided. And Menelaus would have 
triumphed in the duel had not Aphrodite snatched up 

^ It has been well said that the poet who drew this portrait of Thersites 
must have been perfectly familiar with the mob-orator found in every 
Greek city. 

^ Iliad, vi, 440-502. 



HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE 31 

Paris very easily, as a goddess may, and hid him in a thick 
cloud, and so preserved him from black death. And now 
while the two hosts were still under the truce a Trojan 
archer treacherously wounded Menelaus. Once more 
the Achasans raised the loud war-cry and advanced against 
their foes. And the battle swayed oft this way and that 
across the plain, as they aimed against each other their 
bronze-shod javehns. Many Trojans that day and many 
Achseans were laid side by side upon their faces in the 
dust. But when the men of Troy began to yield before 
their enemies, the noble Hector, King Priam's vahant 
son, quitted the field that he might visit the city and bid 
the elders and the women pray for succor to the gods. 
On the city wall he found Andromache, his dear wife, 
and their infant son Astyanax. With many tears Androm- 
ache besought her lord not to go forth again to terrible 
battle lest he perish and leave her forever desolate. 

Then great Hector of the glancing helm answered her : ' Surely 
I take thought for all thy words, my wife; but I have very sore 
shame of the Trojans and Trojan dames with trailing robes, 
if like a coward I shrink away from battle. Moreover mine 
own soul forbiddeth me, seeing I have learnt ever to be valiant 
and fight in the forefront of the Trojans, winning my father's 
great glory and mine own. Yea of a surety I know this in heart 
and soul; the day shall come for holy Ilium to be laid low, and 
Priam and the folk of Priam of the good ashen spear. Yet 
doth the anguish of the Trojans hereafter not so much trouble 
me, neither Hecuba's ^ own, neither King Priam's, neither my 
brethren's, the many and brave that shall fall in the dust before 
their foemen, as doth thine anguish in the day when some mail- 
clad Achaean shall lead thee weeping and rob thee of the light 
of freedom. So shalt thou abide in Argos and ply the loom at 

1 Wife of Priam and Hector's mother. 



32 EARLY GREEK SOCIETY 

another woman's bidding, and bear water from the fountains. 
. . . And then shall one say that beholdeth thee weep, 'This 
is the wife of Hector, that was foremost in battle of tfie horser 
taming Trojans when men fought about Ilium.' Thus shall 
one say hereafter, and fresh grief will be thine for lack of such 
an husband as thou hadst to ward off the day of thraldom. But 
me in death the heaped-up earth be covering, ere I hear thy. 
crying and thy carrying into captivity." 

So spake glorious Hector, and stretched out his arm to his 
boy. But the child shrunk crying to the bosom of his fair- 
girdled nurse, dismayed at his dear father's aspect, and in dread 
at the bronze and horse-hair crest that he beheld nodding 
fiercely from the helmet's top. Then his dear father laughed 
aloud, and his lady mother. Forthwith glorious Hector took 
the helmet from his head, and laid it, all gleaming, upon the 
earth ; then kissed he his dear son and dandled him in his arms. 
And Hector spake in prayer to Zeus and all the gods, "0 Zeus 
and all ye gods, vouchsafe ye that this my son may likewise 
prove even as I, preeminent among the Trojans, and as valiant 
in might, and be a great king of Ilium. Then may men say of 
him, ' Far greater is he than his father as he returneth home from 
battle; and may he bring wth him blood-stained spoils from 
the foeman he hath slain, and may his mother's heart be glad.' " 

So spake he, and laid his son in his dear wife's arms; and 
she took him to her fragrant bosom, smiling tearfully. And 
her husband had pity to see her, and caressed her with his hand, 
and spake and called upon her name: "Dear one, I pray thee 
be not of over-sorrowful heart; no man against my fate shall 
hurl me to Hades. ^ Only destiny, I ween, no man hath escaped, 
be he cowardly or be he valiant, when once he hath been born. 
But go thou to thine house and see to thine own tasks, the 
loom and distaff, and bid thine handmaidens ply their work; 
but for war shall men provide, and I in chief of all men that 
dwell in Ilium." 

So spake glorious Hector, and took up his horse-hair crested 
^ The underworld of the dead. 



THE SHIELD OF ACHILLES S3 

helmet; and his dear wife departed to her home, oft looking 
back, and letting fall big tears. Anon she came to the well- 
stablished house of man-slaying Hector, and found therein her 
many handmaidens, and stirred lamentation in them all. So 
bewailed they Hector, while yet he lived, within his house. 
For they deemed that he would no more come back to them 
from battle, or escape the fury of the hands of the Achaeans. 

13. The Shield of Achilles i 

Now Zeus bethought him of his promise to avenge 
Achilles' wrong on Agamemnon, and when the battle raged 
again between the hosts he gave the victory to the Tro- 
jans. And Hector led his men up to the wall which the 
Achaeans had built for the defense of the ships and broke 
within and began to burn the vessels where they lined the 
shore. In sore distress came Patroclus, Achilles' dearest 
friend, to the sulky chieftain, bidding him lay aside his 
wrath and once more fight for the Achasans. But Achilles 
vowed he would never cease from anger until that time 
when by his own ships the Trojans should raise their 
loud war-cry. Nevertheless to Patroclus, Achilles lent 
his splendid armor and his swift-footed immortal horses 
to draw the war-chariot into battle. Then did Patroclus 
do a hero's deeds until Hector struck him down and de- 
spoiled the corpse of its rich armor. Very terrible was the 
grief of Achilles when he learned that his friend was slain. 
And he forgot his wrath against Agamemnon and sought 
only to have vengeance upon Hector. So Thetis his lady 
mother secured from Hephaestus a suit of new armor, 
the work of a god, such as all men afterwards marveled 
at, whosoever beheld it. 

First fashioned Hephaestus a shield great and strong, adorn- 
ing it all over, and set thereto a shining rim, triple, bright- 
^ Iliad, xviii, 478-608. 



34 EARLY GREEK SOCIETY 

glancing, and therefrom a silver baldric. Five were the folds 
of the shield itself; and therein fashioned he much cunning 
work from his wise heart. ^ There wrought he the earth, and 
the heavens, and the sea, and the unwearying sun, and the 
moon waxing to the full, and the signs every one wherewith 
the heavens are crowned. . . . 

Also he fashioned therein two fair cities of mortal men. In 
the one were espousals and marriage feasts, and beneath the 
blaze of torches they were leading the brides from their chambers 
through the city, and loud arose the bridal song. And young 
men were whirhng in the dance, and among them flutes and 
viols sounded high; and the women standing each at her door 
were marveling. But the folk were gathered in the assembly 
place; for there a strife had arisen, two men striving about 
the blood-price of a man slain. The one claimed to pay full 
atonement, expounding to the people, but the other denied him 
and would take naught. . . . And the folk were cheering both, 
as they took part on either side. And heralds kept order among 
the folk, while the elders on polished stones were sitting in the 
sacred circle, and holding in their hands staves from the loud- 
voiced heralds. Then before the people they rose up and gave 
judgment each in turn. And in the midst lay two talents of 
gold, to be given unto him who should plead among them most 
righteously. 

But around the other city were two armies in siege with 
glittering arms. And two counsels found favor among them, 
either to sack the town or to share all with the townsfolk even 
whatsoever substance the fair city held within. But the be- 
sieged were not yet yielding, but arming for an ambushment. 
On the wall there stood to guard it their dear wives and infant 
children, and with these the old men; but the rest went forth. 
Their leaders were Ares and Pallas Athena, both wrought in 
gold, and golden was the vesture they had on. Goodly and 

1 The poet clearly has in mind a round shield, with parallel bands of 
ornament. The pictures are inlaid with various metals, gold, silver, tin, 
and with blue glass (cyanus). 



THE SHIELD OF ACHILLES 35 

great were they in their armor, even as gods, far seen around, 
and the folk at their feet were smaller. ... : 

Furthermore he set in the shield a soft fresh-ploughed field, 
rich tilth and wide, the third time ploughed; and many ploughers 
therein drave their yokes to and fro as they wheeled about. 
Whensoever they came to the boundary of the field and turned, 
then would a man come to each and give into his hands a goblet 
of sweet wine, while others would be turning back along the 
furrows, fain to reach the boundary of the deep tilth. And the 
field grew black behind and seemed as it were a-ploughing, 
albeit of gold, for this was the great marvel of the work. Further- 
more he set therein the demesne-land of a king, where hinds 
were reaping with sharp sickles in their hands. Some armfuls 
along the swathe were falling in rows to the earth, whilst others 
the sheaf-binders were binding in twisted bands of straw. Three 
sheaf-binders stood over them, while behind boys gathering 
corn and bearing it in their arms gave it constantly to the 
binders; and among them the king in silence was standing at 
the swathe with his staff, rejoicing in his heart. And hench- 
men apart beneath an oak were making ready a feast, and 
preparing a great ox they had sacrificed; while the women 
were strewing much white barley to be a supper for the hinds. 

Also he set therein a vineyard teeming plenteously with 
clusters, wrought fair in gold; black were the grapes, but the 
vines hung throughout on silver poles. And around it he ran 
a ditch of cyanus,'and round that a fence of tin; and one single 
pathway led to it, whereby the vintagers might go when they 
should gather the vintage. And maidens and striplings in 
childish glee bare the sweet fruit in plaited baskets. And in 
the midst of them a boy made pleasant music on a clear-toned 
viol, and sang thereto a sweet Linus-song ^ with delicate voice; 
while the rest with feet falling together kept time with the 
music and song. 

Also he wrought therein a herd of kine with upright horns, 
and the kine were fashioned of gold and tin, and with lowing 
^ A lament for the death of vegetation. 



36 EARLY GREEK SOCIETY 

they hurried from the byre to pasture beside a murmuring 
river, beside the waving reed. And herdsmen of gold were 
following with the kine, four of them, and nine dogs fleet of 
foot came after them. . . . 

Also did the glorious lame god devise a dancing-place. . . . 
There were youths dancing and maidens of costly wooing, 
their hands upon one another's wrists. Fine linen the maidens 
had on, and the youths well-woven doublets faintly glistening 
with oil. Fair wreaths had the maidens, and the youths 
daggers of gold hanging from silver baldrics. And now would 
they run round with deft feet exceeding lightly, as when a potter 
sitting by his wheel that fitteth between his hands maketh trial 
of it whether it run. . . . And a great company stood round 
the lovely dance in joy; and among them a divine minstrel 
was making music on his lyre, and through the midst of them, 
leading the measure, two tumblers whirled.^ 

Also he set therein the great might of the River of Ocean ^ 
around the uttermost rim of the cunningly-fashioned shield. 

14. Funeral Rites of Patroclus ' 

When Hephaestus had finished the shield and corslet, 
the massive helmet and greaves of pliant tin, he laid all 
his work before the mother of Achilles. Then Thetis 
brought the armor to her son who put it on and went forth 
terrible to the battle. And Achilles sprang in among the 
Trojans, his heart clothed with strength, and chased the 
men of Troy within the city gates. Hector alone remained 
outside, awaiting Achilles as he drew nigh in giant might. 
Yet even Hector's heart was now seized with sudden fear 

1 To this day one may see the peasants of Greece dancing in rings and 
lines, with agile acrobats to lead them, just as represented on the shield of 
Achilles. 

2 In early Greek fancy the ocean was thought of as a mighty river en- 
circling the earth. 

* Iliad, xxiii, 226-270. 



FUNERAL RITES OF PATROCLUS 37 

and he fled before Achilles, three times around the wall 
of Troy. And when at length Hector stayed his running 
and stood up against Achilles, his fight was all in vain. 
For he fell beneath his enemy's keen spear and Achilles 
stripped him of his armor and brought his body to the 
hollow ships. Then Achilles, sated of his vengeance, 
ordered Agamemnon to make ready a funeral pyre whereon 
to burn the corpse of Patroclus. All through the night 
the flames, driven by the winds, consumed the pyre, and 
Achilles mourned his friend with many moans. 

But at the hour when the morning star goeth forth to herald 
light upon the earth, the star that saffron-mantled dawn cometh 
after, and spreadeth over the salt sea, then grew the burning 
faint, and the flame died down. And the winds went back 
again to betake them home over the Thracian main,i and it 
roared with a violent swell. Then Achilles turned away from 
the burning and lay down wearied, and sweet sleep leapt on him. 
But they who were with Agamemnon gathered all together, 
and the noise and clash of their approach aroused him. And 
Achilles sate upright and spake a word to them: "Son of 
Atreus and ye other chiefs of the Achasans, first quench with 
gleaming wine all the burning so far as the fire hath reached, 
and then let us gather up the bones of Patroclus. . . . And 
his bones let us put within a golden urn, and double-folded 
fat, until that I myself be hidden in Hades. But no huge 
barrow I bid you toil to raise — a seemly one, no more: 
then afterward do ye Achaeans build it broad and high, whoso- 
ever of you after I am gone may be left in the benched ships." 

Thus spake he, and they hearkened to the fleet-footed son 
of Peleus. First quenched they with gleaming wine the burn- 
ing as far as the flame went, and the ash had settled deep. 
Then with lamentation they gathered the bones of their gentle 
comrade into a golden urn and double-folded fat, and placed 
1 The northern iEgean. 



38 EARLY GREEK SOCIETY 

the urn in the hut and covered it with a Unen veil. And they 
marked the circle of the barrow, and set the foundations thereof 
around the pyre, and straightway heaped thereon a mound of 
earth. Then when they had heaped up the barrow they were 
for going back. 

But Achilles stayed the folk in that place, and made them 
sit in wide assembly, and from his ships he brought forth prizes, 
caldrons and tripods, and horses and mules and strong oxen, 
and fair-girdled women, and gray iron. First for fleet chariot- 
racers he ordained a noble prize, a woman skilled in fair handi- 
work for the winner to lead home, and an eared tripod that 
held two-and- twenty measures. These were for the first man; 
for the second he ordained a six-year-old mare unbroke. . , 
and for the third he gave a goodly caldron yet untouched by 
fire, holding four measures, bright as when first made. And 
for the fourth he ordained two talents of gold; and for the 
fifth a two-handled urn untouched by fire. 

And now when the funeral games had been celebrated, 
the aged Priam, under guidance of the god Hermes, came 
by night to the hut of Achilles. With many gifts he sought 
to ransom the body of Hector, his dear son. And Achilles 
hearkened to the old man's entreaties and gave him back 
the corpse. On a lofty pyre the Trojans burned it, loudly 
lamenting, and holding funeral for glorious Hector, tamer 
of horses. 

15. Nausicaa ^ 

The Iliad ends with the funeral rites of Hector, who 
perished in the tenth year of the siege of Troy. After 
the capture of that city all the Greek chieftains who sur- 
vived the conflict returned to their homes — all save Odys- 
seus, king of Ithaca. Him the god Poseidon doomed to 
wander far and wide over the sea to strange lands. His 

^ Odyssey, vi, 46-101. 



NAUSICAA 39 

many adventures form the subject of the Odyssey. When 
the poem begins, Odysseus was still far from his rocky 
island of Ithaca where more than a hundred suitors courted 
his wife Penelope. Lawless and violent men they were, 
who feasted all day in the house of Odysseus and wasted 
his substance. Meantime the hero suffered shipwreck 
and was carried by the waves to the isle of Scheria where 
dwelt the Phaeacians, a people akin to the gods. There 
on the shore he lay asleep, the steadfast, goodly Odysseus, 
foredone with toil and drowsiness. But the goddess 
Athena, with intent to aid him, appeared in a dream to 
Nausicaa, the lovely daughter of the Pha^acian king, 
and bade her rise and wash the garments for her wedding 
day. 

Anon came the throned dawn, and awakened Nausicaa of 
the fair robes, who straightway marveled on the dream, and 
went through the halls to tell her parents, her father dear and 
her mother. And she found them within, her mother sitting 
by the hearth with the women her handmaids, spinning yarn 
of sea-purple stain, but her father she met as he was going forth 
to the renowned kings in their council, whither the noble 
Phaeacians called him. Standing close by her dear father she 
spake, saying: "Father, dear, couldst thou not lend me a high 
wagon with strong wheels, that I may take the goodly raiment 
to the river to wash, so much as I have lying soiled? Yea and 
it is seemly that thou thyself, when thou art with the princes 
in council, shouldest have fresh raiment to wear. Also, there 
are five dear sons of thine in the halls, two married, but three 
are lusty bachelors, and these are always eager for new-washen 
garments wherein to go to the dances. For all these things 
have I taken thought." This she said because she was ashamed 
to speak of glad marriage to her father; but he saw all and 
answered, saying: "Neither the mules nor aught else do I 
grudge thee, my child. Go thy ways, and the servants shall 



40 EARLY GREEK SOCIETY 

get thee ready a high wagon with good wheels, and fitted with 
an upper frame." 

Therewith he called to his men, and they gave ear, and with- 
out the palace they made ready the smooth-running mule- 
wain, and led the mules beneath the yoke, and harnessed them 
under the car, while the maiden brought forth from her bower 
the shining raiment. This she stored in the polished car, and 
her mother filled a basket with all manner of food to the heart's 
desire, dainties too, she set therein, and she poured wine into 
a goat-skin bottle, while Nausicaa climbed into the wain. And 
her mother gave her soft olive oil also in a golden cruse, that 
she and her maidens might anoint themselves after the bath, . . , 

Now when they were come to the beautiful stream of the 
river, where truly were the unfailing cisterns, and bright water 
welled up free from beneath, and flowed past, enough to wash 
the foulest garments clean, there the girls unharnessed the 
mules from under the chariot. Then they turned them loose 
and drove them along the banks of the eddying river to graze 
on the honey-sweet clover. Next they took the garments from 
the wain, in their hands, and bore them to the black water, 
and briskly trod them down in the trenches, in busy rivalry. 
Now when they had washed and cleansed all the stains, they 
spread all out in order along the shore of the deep, even where 
the sea, in beating on the coast, washed the pebbles clean. 
Then having bathed and anointed themselves well with olive 
oil, they took their mid-day meal on the river's banks, w^aiting 
till the clothes should dry in the brightness of the sun. Anon, 
when they were satisfied with food, the maidens and the princess, 
they fell to playing at ball, casting away their tires, and among 
them Nausicaa of the white arms began the song. 

16 The Palace of Alcinous ^ 

Then Odysseus, aroused by the maidens, awoke from his 
deep sleep and made himself known to Nausicaa and her 

^ Odyssey, vii, S1-132. 



THE PALACE OF ALCINOUS 41 

train. And they gave him meat and drink and covered 
him with a fair mantle and led him to the city of the 
Phaeacians. 

Meanwhile Odysseus went to the famous palace of King 
Alcinous, and his heart was full of many thoughts as he stood 
there. . . . For Odysseus saw a gleam as it were of sun or moon 
through the high-roofed hall of great-hearted Alcinous. Brazen 
were the walls which ran this way and that from the threshold 
to the inmost chamber, and round them was a frieze of blue/ 
and golden were the doors that closed in the good house. Silver 
were the door-posts that were set on the brazen threshold, 
and silver the lintel thereupon, and the hook of the door was of 
gold. And on either side stood golden hounds and silver, 
which Hephaestus wrought by his cunning, to guard the palace 
of great-hearted Alcinous, being free from death and age all 
their days. And within were seats arrayed against the wall 
this way and that, from the threshold even to the inmost 
chamber, and thereon were spread light coverings finely woven, 
the handiwork of women. There the Phaeacian chieftains 
were wont to sit eating and drinking, for they had continual 
store. Yea, and there were youths fashioned in gold, standing 
on firm-set bases, with flaming torches in their hands, giving 
light through the night to the feasters in the palace. And 
Alcinous had fifty handmaids in the house, and some grind 
the yellow grain on the millstone, and others weave webs and 
turn the yarn as they sit, restless as the leaves of the tall poplar 
tree; and the soft olive oil drops off that Unen, so closely is it 
woven. For as the Phaeacian men are skilled beyond all others 
in driving a swift ship upon the deep, even so are the women 
the most cunning at the loom, for Athena hath given them 
notable wisdom in all fair handiwork and cunning wit. 

And without the courtyard hard by the door is a great garden, 
and a hedge runs round on either side. And there grow tall 

* A similar "frieze of blue" was found by H. Schliemann in the palace- 
citadel of Tiryns. The frieze consisted of alabaster inlaid with blue glass. 



42 EARLY GREEK SOCIETY 

trees blossoming, pear-trees, and pomegranates, and apple- 
trees with bright fruit, and sweet figs, and olives in their bloom. 
The fruit of these trees never perisheth, neither faileth, winter 
nor summer, enduring through all the year. Evermore the 
west wind blowing brings some fruits to birth and ripens 
others. Pear upon pear waxes old, and apple on apple, yea 
and cluster ripens upon cluster of the grape, and fig upon fig. 
There too hath he a fruitful vineyard planted, whereof the one 
part is being dried by the heat, a sunny plot on level ground, 
while other grapes men are gathering, and yet others they are 
treading in the wine-press. In the foremost row are unripe 
grapes that cast the blossom, and others there be that are 
growing black to \Tintaging. There too skirting the furthest 
line, are all manner of garden beds, planted trimly, that are 
perpetually fresh, and therein are two fountains of water, 
whereof one scatters his streams all about the garden, and the 
other runs over against it beneath the threshold of the court- 
yard, and issues by the lofty house. There did the townsfolk 
draw water. Such were the splendid gifts of the gods in the 
palace of Alcinous.^ 

17. The Story of Eumaeus ^ 

And now the Phaeacians entreated Odysseus right hos- 
pitably. And after he had related all his strange adven- 
tures, the Phaeacians bore him back to Ithaca in their 
hollow ships and set him down in a fair haven of the island. 
There the goddess, gray-eyed Athena, came to him telling 
how the wooers beset his house. And the goddess dis- 
guised Odysseus as an old man, a beggar, and bade him 
go to the hut of the swineherd Eumaeus, who was still 
faithful to his absent lord. To Eumajus, Odysseus 

1 This description of the palace of Alcinous with its furniture and decora- 
tions closely accords with actual remains of the .(Egean Age as revealed by 
modern explorations. 

^ Odyssey, xv, 403-484. 



THE STORY OF EUM^EUS 43 

recited a cunning narrative of his wanderings and his 
sufferings; for he would not yet disclose himself to the 
swineherd. And Eumaius in turn, when questioned by 
Odysseus, related the story of his past life. 

"There is a certain isle called Syria; if haply thou hast heard 
tell of it, over above Ortygia,^ and there are the turning-places 
of the sun. It is not very great in compass, though a goodly 
isle, rich in herds, rich in flocks, with plenty of corn and wine. 
Dearth never enters the land, and no hateful sickness falls on 
wretched mortals. ... In that isle are two cities, and the whole 
land is divided between them, and my father was king over the 
twain ... a man like to the immortals. 

"Thither came the Phoenicians, mariners renowned, greedy 
merchant men, with countless gauds in a black ship. Now in 
my father's house was a Phoenician woman, tall and fair and 
skilled in bright handiwork; this woman the Phoenicians with 
their sleights beguiled. First as she was washing clothes, one 
of them . . . asked her who she was and whence she came, 
and straightway she showed him the lofty home of my father, 
saying: From out of Sidon^ I avow that I come, a land rich in 
bronze, and I am the daughter of Arybas, the wealthy. But 
Taphians,' who were sea-robbers, laid hands on me and snatched 
me away as I came in from the fields, and brought me hither 
and sold me into the house of my master, who paid for me a 
goodly price.' Then the man . . . answered, 'Say, wouldst 
thou now return home with us, that thou mayest look again 
on the lofty house of thy father and mother and on their faces? 
For truly they yet live, and have a name for wealth.' Then 
the woman answered him, ' Even this may well be, if ye sailors 
will pledge me an oath to bring me home in safety? ' So spake 
she, and they all swore thereto as she bade them. Now when 

' These islands have a mythical character as the "turning-places" of the 
sun. 

^ Sidon was one of the chief cities of Phcenicia. ^ 

^ Inhabitants of Taphos, an island off the coast of Acamania. 



44 EARLY GREEK SOCIETY 

they had sworn and done that oath, again, the woman spake 
among them and answered, saying: 'Hold your peace now, 
and let none of your fellows speak to me and greet me, if they 
meet me in the street, or even at the well, lest one go and tell 
it to the old man at home, and he suspect somewhat and bind 
me in hard bonds and devise death for all of you. But keep 
ye the matter in mind, and speed the purchase of your homeward 
freight. And when your ship is freighted with stores, let a 
message come quickly to me at the house; for I will likewise 
bring gold, all that comes under my hand. Yea and there is 
another thing that I would gladly give for my fare. I am nurse 
to the child of my lord in the halls, a most cunning little boy, 
that runs out abroad with me. Him would I bring on board 
ship, and he should fetch you a great price, wheresoever ye take 
him for sale among men of strange speech.' 

"Therewith she went her way to the fair halls. But they 
abode among us a whole year, and got together much wealth 
in their hollow ship. And when their hollow ship was now 
laden to depart, they sent a messenger to tell the tidings to the 
woman. There came a man versed in craft to my father's 
house, with a golden chain strung here and there with amber 
beads. Now the maidens in the hall and my lady mother were 
handling the chain and gazing on it, and offering him their 
price ; but he had signed silently to the woman, and therewithal 
gat him away to the hollow ship. Then she took m_e by the 
hand and led me forth from the house. And at the vestibule 
of the house she found the cups and the tables of the guests 
that had been feasting, who were in waiting on my father. 
They had gone forth to the session and the place of parley of 
the people. And she straightway hid three goblets in her 
bosom, and bare them away, and I followed in my innocence. 
Then the sun sank and all the ways were darkened. And we 
went quickly and came to the good haven, where was the swift 
ship of the Phoenicians. So they climbed on board and took 
us up with them, and sailed over the wet ways, and Zeus sent 
us a favoring wind. For six days we sailed by day and night 



THE STORY OF EUM^US 45 

continually; but when Zeus added the seventh day thereto, 
then Artemis/ the archer, smote the woman that she fell, as 
a sea-swallow falls, with a plunge into the hold. And they 
cast her forth to be the prey of seals and fishes, but I was left 
stricken at heart. And wind and water bare them and brought 
them to Ithaca where Laertes ^ bought me with his possessions. 
And thus it came about that mine eyes beheld this land." 

While Odysseus still abode with the faithful swineherd, 
he revealed himself to his son Telemachus, and then 
planned deadly vengeance on the wicked suitors. Now 
Penelope had promised that she would wed the man who 
could draw the bow of Odysseus and send an arrow through 
the holes in twelve axe-blades set up in a row. But at the 
trial, not one of the suitors was able even to string the 
bow. Odysseus, however, bent it easily and sent an arrow 
through the mark. Then he turned upon the suitors and 
dealt his shafts among them, and aided by Telemachus 
and Eumasus, slaughtered all their wicked crew. Thus 
Odysseus became once more the lord of rocky Ithaca, 
full twenty years after his departure for the wind-swept 
plain of Troy. 

1 Artemis, the archer goddess, was sometimes thought of as a deity who 
slew individuals, especially women, with her deadly arrows. A sudden and 
mysterious death would be so explained. 

* Father of Odysseus. 



CHAPTER IV 
STORIES FROM GREEK MYTHOLOGY i 

The beautiful and varied mythology of the Greeks came 
into existence long before the beginnings of Greek his- 
tory. Until the introduction of writing the myths were 
preserved in popular traditions, in priestly rituals, and in 
the songs chanted by minstrel bards as they wandered 
from city to city. Much of this legendary material was 
taken over by the authors of the Iliad and the Odyssey 
and built into the structure of the Homeric epics. A 
century or two after Homer, many of the stories about 
the gods and demigods were gathered together and re- 
duced to order in the poems attributed to Hesiod. Of 
these the most important was the Theogony, which re- 
counts the creation of the world and the generation of 
the gods and heroes. The Hesiodic poems became to 
the Greeks a standard repository of the old mythology 
and the source from which later poets derived much of 
their legendary lore. 

18. The Struggle between Zeus and the Titans ^ 

The Theogony begins with the creation of the world 
from Chaos and the origin of the forces and phenomena 
of nature — night and day, earth and the starry heavens, 
deep-eddying ocean and the lofty hills. From Earth (or 

^ Hesiod, The Poems and Fragments, translated by A. W. Mair. Oxford, 
1908. Clarendon Press. 

* Hesiod, Theogony, 674-721. 



ZEUS AND THE TITANS 47 

Gaea) married to Heaven (or Uranus), sprang the twelve 
gigantic Titans and the one-eyed Cyclopes. These were 
personifications of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, the 
rolHng thunder, and the Hghtning flash. Other offspring 
of Earth and Heaven were Briareus, Cottus, and Gyes, 
hundred-handed giants, supposed to be personifications of 
the hail, the rain, and the snow. Cronus (Greek, Kronos), 
youngest of the Titans, made war on his father and de- 
throned him from his seat. Then Cronus married Rhea, 
who gave birth to the great deities, Hestia, Demeter, 
Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. These, in turn, made 
war on Cronus. On the one side were the Titans fighting 
for their brother Cronus; on the opposite side were Zeus 
and Rhea's other children. For more than ten years they 
fought, Zeus with his hosts from Mount Olympus, the 
Titans from Mount Othrys. Then Zeus summoned to 
his aid the three giants, each with a hundred hands, whom 
Uranus had sought to bury out of sight beneath the earth. 

And now they stood against the Titans in baleful strife, with 
sheer rocks in their stout hands. And the Titans on the other 
side eagerly strengthened their ranks. Then these and those 
together showed forth the work of their hands and their might. 
The boundless sea roared terribly around them, and the earth 
crashed aloud, and the wide heaven groaned as it was shaken, 
and high Olympus was stirred from its foundations at the onset 
of the immortals, and a grievous convulsion came on misty 
Tartarus. . . . And the voices of either side came unto the 
starry heaven as they -shouted. And they came together with 
a mighty din. 

Nor did Zeus any longer restrain his soul, but straightway 
his mind was filled with fury and he showed forth all his might. 
From heaven and from Olympus he came to join them, lighten- 
ing as he came. And his bolts flew near at hand with thunder 
and with lightning, thick bolts from his strong hand rolling a 



48 STORIES FROM GREEK MYTHOLOGY 

holy flame; and around the Ufe-giving earth crashed as it 
burned, and the infinite wood cried aloud with fire. And the 
whole earth boiled, and the streams of Ocean, and the unhar- 
vested sea. Hot breath beset the Titans from under the earth, 
and infinite flame came unto the holy ether, and the flashing 
glare of thunderbolt and lightning robbed their eyes of sight, 
albeit they were strong. And a wondrous heat beset Chaos. 
And it seemed to see with the eyes and to hear the din with 
the ears, as if earth and the wide heaven above drew nigh to 
one another. For such a mighty din would have arisen if 
earth were ruining and heaven above hurling it to ruin. Such 
was the din when the gods met in strife. 

And amid the foremost, Cottus and Briareus and Gyes, 
insatiate of war, awoke bitter battle. In quick succession they 
hurled three hundred rocks from their stout hands, and over- 
shadowed the Titans with their shafts, and sent them beneath 
the wide-wayed earth to Tartarus. ... As far beneath the 
earth as the heaven is high above the earth, even so far is it 
from earth to misty Tartarus. 

19. Prometheus and Pandora ^ 

After the banishment of the Titans to Tartarus, Zeus 
assumed the sovereignty of the gods. He gave to his 
brother Poseidon the kingdom of the sea; to Hades, his 
second brother, the government of the underworld. For 
himself Zeus retained the dominion of earth and heaven. 
From his wives sprang many of the gods and goddesses 
who made up the council of divinities on Mount Olympus.^ 
And at the instigation of Zeus, Prometheus, a Titan who 

^ Hesiod, Theogony, 535-593. 

^ Hesiod enumerates the three Graces, the nine Muses, Persephone, 
daughter of Zeus by Demeter, Apollo and Artemis, his children by Latona, 
Hebe and Ares, his children by Hera. From the head of Zeus sprang the 
goddess Athena. Other offspring of Zeus were Hermes, messenger of the 
gods, Dionysus, lord of the wine-cup and the revel, and Heracles the mighty 
hero. 



PROMETHEUS AND PANDORA 49 

had allied himself with the Olympians in their contest 
against the Titans, made man in the image of the gods. 
But Prometheus was wily, and by his deceits drew down 
upon himself the wrath of Zeus. 

For once when the gods and mortal men were contending, 
Prometheus with willing heart cut up a mighty ox and set it 
before them, deceiving the mind of Zeus. For he set for them 
the flesh and the inmeats with rich fat upon a hide, and covered 
them with an ox paunch; but for Zeus he set the white bones, 
craftily arraying them, and covering them with glistening fat. 
Then the father of gods and men spake unto him, "Son of 
lapetus,^ most notable of all princes, how unfairly hast thou 
divided the portions!" 

Then spake to him in turn Prometheus of crooked counsels, 
smihng quietly, but forgetting not his crafty guile, "Zeus, 
most glorious, mightiest of the everlasting gods, of these por- 
tions choose whichever thy soul within thy breast biddeth thee." 
So spake he with crafty intent. But Zeus, who knoweth 
coimsels imperishable, knew and failed not to remark the guile; 
and in his heart he boded evil things for mortal men, which were 
destined to be fulfilled. With both hands he lifted up the white 
fat. And he was angered in his heart and wrath came about 
his soul when he beheld the white bones of the ox given him in 
crafty guile. And thenceforth do the tribes of men on earth 
burn white bones to the immortals upon fragrant altars. Then 
heavily moved, Zeus the cloud gatherer spake unto him, 
" Son of lapetus, who knowest counsels beyond all others, thou 
hast not yet forgotten thy crafty guile." 

So in anger spake Zeus, who knoweth counsels imperishable. 
And henceforward, remembering evermore that guile, he gave 
not the might of blazing fire to wretched mortals who dwell 
upon the earth. But the good son of lapetus deceived him and 
stole the far-seen gleam of unwearied fire in a hollow fennel 

^ lapetus the Titan, father of Prometheus. 



so STORIES FROM GREEK MYTHOLOGY 

stalk. And he stung to the depths the heart of Zeus who 
thundereth on high, and angered his dear heart when he beheld 
among men the far-shining gleam of fire. 

And straightway for fire Zeus devised evil for men. The 
glorious Lame One ^ fashioned of earth the likeness of a modest 
maiden as the son of Cronus devised. And the goddess, gray- 
eyed Athena, girdled her and arrayed her in shining raiment: 
and over her head she cast with her hands a cunningly-fashioned 
veil, a marvel to behold; and about her head Pallas Athena 
set lovely garlands, even wreaths of fresh grass and green. . . . 
And amazement held immortal gods and mortal men, when 
they saw the sheer delusion unescapable for men. For 
from her cometh the race of womankind. Yea, of her is the 
deadly race and the tribes of women. A great bane are they 
to dwell among mortal men, no helpmeet for ruinous poverty, 
but for abundance.^ 

20. The Five Races of -Man ^ 

First of all, a golden race of mortal men did the immortal 
dwellers in Olympus fashion. These lived in the time of Cronus 
when he was king in Heaven. Like gods they lived, having a 
soul unknowing sorrow, apart from toil and travail. Neither 
were they subject to miserable old age, but ever the same in 
hand and foot, they took their pleasure in festival apart from 
all evil. And they died as overcome of sleep. All good things 
were theirs. The bounteous earth bare fruit for them of her 
own will, in plenty and without stint. And they in peace and 
quiet lived on their lands with many good things, rich in flocks 
and dear to the blessed gods. But since this race was hidden 
in the earth, spirits they are by the will of mighty Zeus: good 
spirits, on earth, keepers of mortal men. . . . 

^ The god Hephaestus. 

2 These passages from Hesiod contain the earUest Greek version of two 
famous legends: the origin of fire, and the creation of woman. Pandora 
might be called the Eve of Greek mythology. 

' Hesiod, Works and Days, 109-179. 



THE FIVE RACES OF MAN 51 

Then next the dwellers in Olympus created a far inferior 
race, a race of silver, no wise like to the golden race in body 
or in mind. For a hundred years the child grew up by his good 
mother's side, playing in utter childishness within his home. 
But when they grew to manhood and came to the full measure 
of age, for but a little space they lived and in sorrow by reason 
of their foolishness. For they could not refrain from sinning 
the one against the other, neither would they worship the 
deathless gods, nor do sacrifice on the holy altars of the blessed 
ones, as the manner of men wheresoever they dwell. Where- 
fore Zeus in anger put them away, because they gave not honor 
to the blessed gods who dwell in Olympus. Now since this 
race too was hidden in earth, they beneath the earth are called 
blessed mortals. Of lower rank, yet they too have their honor. 

Then Zeus the father created a third race of mortal men, 
a race of bronze . . . terrible and strong; whose delight was 
in the dolorous works of Ares and in insolence. Bread they 
ate not: but souls they had stubborn, of adamant, unapproach- 
able: great was their might and invincible the arms that grew 
from their shoulders on stout frames. Of bronze was their 
armor, of bronze their dwellings, with bronze they wrought. 
Black iron w^as not yet. These by their own hands slain went 
down to the dank house of chill Hades, nameless. And black 
death slew them, for all that they were mighty, and they left 
the bright light of the sun. 

Now when this race also was hidden in earth, yet a fourth 
race did Zeus the son of Cronus create upon the bounteous 
earth, a juster race and better, a god-like race of hero men who 
are called demigods. . . . And them did evil war and dread 
battle slay, some at seven-gated Thebes . . . some when war 
had brought them in ships across the great gulf of the sea to 
Troy for the sake of fair-tressed Helen. There did the issue of 
death cover them about. But Zeus the father, the son of 
Cronus, gave them a life and an abode apart from men, and 
established them at the ends of the earth afar from the death- 
less gods. Among them Cronus is king. And they with soul 



52 STORIES FROM GREEK MYTHOLOGY 

untouched of sorrow dwell in the Islands of the Blest by deep- 
eddying Ocean. Happy heroes are they, for whom the boun- 
teous earth beareth honey-sweet fruit fresh thrice a year. 

I would then that I Hved not among the fifth race of men, 
but either had died before or had been born afterward. For 
now verily is a race of iron. Neither by day shall they ever cease 
from weariness of woe, neither in the night from wasting, and 
sore cares shall the gods give them. Howbeit even for them shall 
good be mingled with evil.^ 

1 Hesiod's picture of the Gold and Silver ages is purely ideal. The 
Bronze Age and the Iron Age, on the contrary, are historical. In inserting 
an Heroic Age of demigods, the poet is making a concession to the widespread 
Greek custom of hero-worship. 



CHAPTER V 

SOME GREEK TYRANTS i 

In the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. many Hel- 
lenic cities passed under the control of illegal rulers whom 
the Greeks called tyrants. By enlisting the common people 
in his support, or by recruiting a body of mercenary sol- 
diers, an adventurer was often able to overthrow the 
nobles and to establish himself in the seat of government. 
The rule of the tyrant formed not seldom a most prosper- 
ous period in the history of a Greek city. Yet he sat 
upon a very unstable throne. The Greeks hated all arbi- 
trary and unconstitutional power. So the tyranny generally 
came to a sudden end — sometimes during the usurper's 
Hfetime, more frequently after his death, when the rule 
passed to his sons. The historian, Herodotus, writing at the 
middle of the fifth century b. c. when many of the tyran- 
nies had disappeared from the Greek cities, reflects the gen- 
eral feeUng of hostility to them that was current in his age. 

21. Cypselus and Perian(Jer, Tyrants of Corinth ^ 

. . . Cypselus, the first tyrant of Corinth, showed himself 
a harsh ruler. Many of the Corinthians he drove into banish- 
ment, many he deprived of their fortunes, and a still greater 
number, of their lives. His reign lasted thirty years, and was 
prosperous to its close; so that he left the government to Peri- 
ander, his son. 

' Herodotus. The translation of George Rawlinson, edited by A. J. 
Grant. 2 vols. London, 1897. John Murray. 
* Herodotus, v, 92. 



54 SOME GREEK TYRANTS 

This ruler, at the beginning of his reign, was of a milder tem- 
per than his father; but after he corresponded by means of 
messengers with Thrasybulus, tyrant of Miletus, he became even 
more sanguinary. On one occasion he sent a herald to ask 
Thrasybulus what mode of government it was safest to set up 
in order to rule with honor. Thrasybulus led the messenger 
without the city, and took him into a field of corn, through which 
he began to walk. While Thrasybulus asked him again and 
again concerning his coming from Corinth, he broke off and 
threw away such ears of corn as overtopped the rest. In this 
way he went through the whole field, and destroyed all the 
best and richest parts of the crop. Then, without a word, he 
sent the messenger back. On the return of the man to Cor- 
inth, Periander was eager to know what Thrasybulus had coun- 
seled, but the messenger reported that he had said nothing. 
The messenger wondered that Periander had sent him to so 
strange a man, who seemed to have lost his senses, since he did 
nothing but destroy his own property. Upon this he told how 
Thrasybulus had behaved at the interview. Periander, per- 
ceiving what the action meant, and knowing that Thrasybulus 
advised the destruction of all the leading citizens, treated his 
subjects from this time forward with the greatest cruelty. 
Where Cypselus had spared any, and had neither put them to 
death nor banished them, Periander completed what his father 
had left unfinished. ... 

Corinth, under the brilliant rule of Periander, became the 
wealthiest and most prosperous city of Greece. After his 
death his nephew ruled for a few years and then the tyranny 
of the CypseKds came to an end (581 b. c). Thenceforth 
Corinth was governed by an oligarchy of merchant princes. 

22. Clisthenes of Sicyoni 

The Kttle state of Sicyon, not far from Corinth, was 
the seat of a powerful tyranny under its ruler Clisthenes 
1 Herodotus, vi, 125-126, 128-130. 



CLISTHENES OF SICYON 55 

(about 600-570 B. c). How Clisthenes married his daughter 
to a member of the noble Athenian family of the Alcmaeon- 
idae, is related by Herodotus in the following delightful 
story. 

Now the Alcmaeonidce were, even in the days of yore, a fam- 
ily of note at Athens; but from the time of Alcmseon, and again 
of Megacles, they rose to special eminence. The former of these 
two personages . . . when Croesus the Lydian sent men from 
Sardis to consult the Delphic oracle,^ gave aid gladly to his 
messengers, and assisted them to accomplish their task. 
Croesus, informed of Alcmaeon's kindnesses by the Lydians 
who from time to time conveyed his messages to the god, sent 
for him to Sardis, and when he arrived, made him a present of 
as much gold as he could carry at one time about his person. 
Finding that this was the gift assigned him, Alcmjeon took his 
measures, and prepared himself to receive it in the following 
way. He clothed himself in a loose tunic, which he made to 
bag greatly at the waist, and placed upon his feet the widest 
buskins that he could anywhere find. Then he followed his 
guides into the treasure-house. Here he started on a heap of 
gold-dust, and in the first place packed as much as he could 
inside his buskins, between them and his legs; after which 
he filled the breast of his tunic quite full of gold. Then, sprink- 
ling some over his hair, and taking some likewise in his mouth, 
he came forth from the treasure-house, scarcely able to drag 
his legs along. . . . On seeing him, Croesus burst into a laugh, 
and not only let him have all that he had taken, but gave him 
presents besides, of fully equal worth. Thus Alcmaeon became 
a man of great wealth; and was able to keep horses for the 
chariot-race, and won the prize at Olympia. 

Afterwards, in the generation which followed, Clisthenes, 
king of Sicyon, raised the family to still greater eminence among 
the Greeks. . . . For this Clisthenes . . . had a daughter, 
called Agarista, whom he wished to marry to the best husband 

' Sec page 16. 



$6 SOME GREEK TYRANTS 

that he could find in the whole of Greece. At the Olympic 
games, therefore, having gained the prize in the chariot-race, 
he caused public proclamation to be made to the following 
effect: "Whoever among the Greeks deems himself worthy 
to be the son-in-law of Clisthenes, let him come, sixty days 
hence, or, if he will, sooner, to Sicyon. Within a year's time, 
counting from the end of the sixty days, CHsthenes will decide 
on the man to whom he shall contract his daughter." So all 
the Greeks who were proud of their own merit, or of their coun- 
try, flocked to Sicyon as suitors. Clisthenes had a foot-course 
and a wrestling-ground made ready to try their powers. . . . 

Now when they were all come, and the day appointed had 
arrived, CHsthenes first of all inquired of each concerning his 
country and his family. After this he kept them with him a 
year, and made trial of their manly bearing, their temper, their 
accomplishments, and their disposition. Such as were still 
youths he took with him from time to time to the gymnasia; 
but the greatest trial of all was at the banquet-table. During 
the whole period of their stay he lived with them as I have said; 
and, further, from first to last, he entertained them sumptu- 
ously. Somehow or other the suitors who came from Athens 
pleased him the best of all. Of these HippocHdes, Tisander's 
son, was specially in favor, partly on account of his manly 
bearing, and partly also because his ancestors were of kin to 
the Corinthian Cypselids.^ 

When at length the day arrived which had been fixed for the 
espousals, and CHsthenes had to speak out and declare his 
choice, he first of all made a sacrifice of a hundred oxen, and 
held a banquet, at which he entertained all the suitors and the 
people of Sicyon. After the feast was ended, the suitors vied 
with each other in music, and in speaking on a given subject. 
Presently, as the drinking advanced, HippocHdes, to the aston- 
ishment of the guests, called aloud to the flute-player, and bade 
him strike up a dance. This the man did, and HippocHdes 
danced to it. He fancied that he was dancing excellently well; 

1 See page 53. 



PISISTRATUS OF ATHENS 57 

but Clisthenes, who was observing him, began to misdoubt the 
whole business. Then HippocHdes, after a pause, told an 
attendant to bring in a table; and when it was brought, he 
mounted upon it and danced first of all some Laconian figures, 
then some Attic ones; after which he stood on his head upon 
the table, and began to toss his legs about. Clisthenes, not- 
withstanding that he now loathed Hippoclides for a son-in-law, 
by reason of his dancing and his shamelessness . . . had re- 
strained himself during the first and likewise during the second 
dance. When, however, he saw him tossing his legs in the air, 
he could no longer contain himself, but cried out, "Son of 
Tisander, thou hast danced thy wife away!" "What does 
Hippoclides care?" was the other's answer. And hence the 
proverb arose. 

Then Clisthenes commanded silence, and spoke thus before 
the assembled company: "Suitors of my daughter, well pleased 
am I with you all; and right willingly, if it were possible, would 
I content you all, and not by making choice of one appear to 
put a slight upon the rest. It is, however, out of my power, 
seeing that I have only one daughter, to grant all your wishes. 
Now I will present to each of you whom I must needs dismiss 
a talent ^ of silver, for the honor that you have done me in seek- 
ing to ally yourselves with my house, and for your long absence 
from your homes. But my daughter Agarista, I betroth to 
Megacles, the son of Alcmaeon, to be his wife, according to the 
usage and wont of Athens." Then Megacles expressed his 
readiness; and Clisthenes had the marriage solemnized. 

Thus ended the affair of the suitors and thus the 
Alcmajonidas came to be famous throughout all Greece. 

23. Pisistratus of Athens 2 

Hippocrates the Athenian, when he was a private citizen, 
is said to have gone once upon a time to Olympia to see the 

^ About $1080. * Herodotus, i, 59-60. 



58 SOME GREEK TYRANTS 

games. Here a wonderful prodigy happened to him. As he 
was employed in sacrificing, the caldrons which stood near, 
full of water and the flesh of the victims, began to boil without 
the help of fire, so that the water overflowed the pots. Chilon 
the Spartan, who happened to be there and to witness the 
prodigy, advised Hippocrates, if he was unmarried, never to 
take into his house a wife who could bear him a child. . . . 
Chilon's advice did not at all please Hippocrates, who disre- 
garded it, and some time after became the father of 
Pisistratus. 

This Pisistratus, at a time when there was civil contention 
in Attica between the party of the Sea-coast headed by Meg- 
acles ^ the son of Alcmaeon, and that of the Plain headed by 
Lycurgus, one of the Aristolaids, formed the project of mak- 
ing himself tyrant. With this end in view he created a third 
party.^ Gathering together a band of partisans, and giving 
himself out for the protector of the highlanders, he contrived 
the following stratagem. He wounded himself and his mules, 
and then drove his chariot into the market place, professing 
to have just escaped an attack of his enemies, who had at- 
tempted his life as he was on his way into the country. He 
besought the people to assign him a guard to protect his per- 
son, reminding them of the glory which he had gained when he 
led the attack upon the Megarians,^ and took the town of 
Nisaea, at the same time performing many other exploits. 
The Athenians, deceived by his story, appointed him a band of 
citizens to serve as a guard. They were to carry clubs instead 
of spears, and to accompany him wherever he went. Thus 
strengthened, Pisistratus broke into revolt and seized the cit- 
adel. In this way he acquired the sovereignty of Athens, 
which he continued to hold without disturbing the previously 
existing offices or altering any of the laws. He administered 

^ The same Megacles who married Agarista, daughter of Clisthenes, 
tyrant of Sicyon. 

* Composed of shepherds and peasants living in the mountains of Attica. 
' When Athens and Megara were at war (570-565 b. c). 



PISISTRATUS OF ATHENS 59 

the state according to the estabhshed usages, and his arrange- 
ments were wise and salutary. 

However, after a Httle time, the partisans of Megacles and 
those of Lycurgus agreed to forget their differences, and united 
to drive him out. So Pisistratus, having by the means described 
first made himself master of Athens, lost his power again before 
it had time to take root. No sooner, however, had he departed 
than the factions which had driven him out quarreled anew. 
At last Megacles, wearied with the struggle, sent a herald to 
Pisistratus, with an offer to reestablish him on the throne if 
he would marry his daughter. Pisistratus consented, and on 
these terms an agreement was concluded between the two, 
after which they proceeded to plan the mode of his 
restoration. « 

The device on which they hit was the silliest that I find on 
record, more especially when we consider that the Greeks have 
been from very ancient times distinguished from the barba- 
rians by superior sagacity, and when we remember also that the 
persons on whom this trick was played were not only Greeks, 
but Athenians, who have the credit of surpassing all other 
Greeks in cleverness. There was in Attica a woman named 
Phya, whose height only fell short of four cubits by three fin- 
gers' breadth, and who was altogether comely to look upon. 
This woman they first of all clothed in complete armor. In- 
structing her as to the demeanor which she was to maintain 
in order to act her part, they placed her in a chariot and drove 
to the city. Heralds had been sent forward to precede her, 
and to make proclamation to this effect: "Citizens of Athens, 
receive again Pisistratus with friendly minds. Athena, who of 
all men honors him the most, herself conducts him back to her 
own citadel." This they proclaimed in all directions, and im- 
mediately the rumor spread throughout the country districts 
that Athena was bringing back her favorite. They of the 
city also, fully persuaded that the woman was the veritable 
goddess, prostrated themselves before her, and received Pisis- 
tratus back. 



6o SOME GREEK TYRANTS 

The tyranny of Pisistratus lasted, with some intermis- 
sions noted by Herodotus, for thirty-three years (560- 
527 B. c). His two sons, Hippias and Hipparchus, who 
followed him, enjoyed a briefer rule. Hipparchus was 
murdered in a private feud. Not long after (510 b. c), 
Hippias was expelled from Athens by the Spartans, with 
the aid of the Alcmaeonidae whom Pisistratus had exiled. 

24. Polycrates, Tyrant of Samos^ 

One of the most famous of the early tyrants was Polyc- 
rates of Samos (about 535-520 b. c). He owned the 
largest navy in the eastern part of the ^Egean and suc- 
ceeded in building up a strong maritime empire. 

The exceeding good fortune of Polycrates did not escape 
the notice of Amasis,^ who was much disturbed thereat. When 
therefore his successes continued, Amasis wrote him the follow- 
ing letter, and sent it to Samos. "Amasis to Polycrates thus 
sayeth: It is a pleasure to hear of a friend and ally prospering; 
but thy exceeding prosperity does not cause me joy, forasmuch 
as I know that the gods are envious. My wish for myself, 
and for those whom I love, is, to be now successful, and now 
to meet with a check. Thus one passes through life amid alter- 
nate good and ill, rather than with perpetual good fortune. 
For never yet did I hear tell of anyone succeeding in all his 
undertakings, who did not meet with calamity at last, and come 
to utter ruin. Now, therefore, give ear to my words and meet 
thy good luck in this way. Consider what treasure thou valu- 
est most and canst least bear to part with; take it, whatsoever 
it be, and throw it away, so that it may be sure never to come 
any more into the sight of man. Then, if thy good fortune is 
not thenceforth mingled with ill, save thyself from harm by 
again doing as I have counseled." 

1 Herodotus, iii, 40-43. ^ Amasis II, king of Egypt. See pages 14, 20. 



POLYCRATES, TYRANT OF SAMOS 6i 

When Polycrates read this letter, and perceived that the 
advice of Amasis was good, he considered carefully which of 
the treasures that he had in store it would grieve him most to 
lose. After much thought he made up his mind that it was 
a signet-ring which he was wont to wear, an emerald set in 
gold. So he determined to throw this away. Manning a ship, 
he went on board, and bade the sailors put out into the open 
sea. When he was now a long way from the island, he took 
the ring from his finger, and, in the sight of all those who were 
on board, flung it into the deep. This done, he returned 
home, and gave vent to his sorrow. 

Now it happened five or six days afterwards that a fisher- 
man caught a fish so large and beautiful, that he thought it 
well deserved to be presented to the king. So he took it with 
him to the gate of the palace, and said that he wanted to see 
Polycrates. Then Polycrates allowed him to come in; and the 
fisherman gave him the fish with these words of explanation: 
"O king, when I took this prize, I thought I would not carry 
it to market, though I am a poor man who live by my trade. 
I said to myself, It is worthy of Polycrates and his greatness; 
and so I brought it here to give it to you." This speech pleased 
the king, who thus spoke in reply: "Thou didst right well, 
friend; and I am doubly indebted, both for the gift, and for 
the speech. Come now and sup with me." So the fisherman 
went home, esteeming it a high honor that he had been asked 
to sup with the king. Meanwhile the servants, on cutting open 
the fish, found the signet of their master in its stomach. No 
sooner did they see it than they seized upon it, and hastening 
to Polycrates with great joy, restored it to him, and told him 
in what way it had been found. The king, who saw some- 
thing providential in the matter, forthwith wrote a letter to 
Amasis, telling him all that had happened, what he had him- 
self done, and what had been the result — and dispatched the 
letter to Egypt. 

When Amasis had read the letter of Polycrates, he perceived 
that it does not belong to man to save his fellow-man from the 



62 SOME GREEK TYRANTS 

fate which is in store for him. Likewise he felt certain that 
Polycrates would end ill, as he prospered in everything, even 
finding what he had thrown away. So he sent a herald to 
Samos, and dissolved the contract of friendship. This he did, 
that when the great and heavy misfortune came, he might 
escape the grief which he would have felt if the sufferer had 
been his bond-friend. 

The apprehensions of the Egyptian monarch were ere 
long justified. Polycrates' good fortune at length deserted 
him. He was entrapped by the Persian governor of Sar- 
dis and perished miserably "in a way unworthy of his 
rank and of his lofty schemes. For, if we except the Syra- 
cusans, there has never been one of the Greek tyrants 
who is to be compared with Polycrates for magnificence." 



CHAPTER VI 
SPARTAN EDUCATION AND LIFE i 

A LITTLE treatise by Xenophon, an Athenian historian 
and essayist (about 431-355 b. c), is one of our principal 
sources of information for the remarkable social institu- 
tions of the Spartans. Xenophon Hved in Sparta and its 
vicinity for many years, and so had ample opportunity of 
studying the Spartan discipHne and of comparing it with 
the methods of training followed in other Greek cities. 

26. Education of Boys ^ 

. . . Throughout the rest of Greece the custom on the part 
of those who claim to educate their sons in the best way is as 
follows. As soon as the children are of an age to understand 
what is said to them, they are immediately placed under the 
charge of tutors who are also attendants, and sent off to the 
school of some teacher to be taught ''grammar," "music," 
and the concerns of the palestra.' Besides this they are given 
shoes to wear which tend to make their feet tender, and their 
bodies are enervated by various changes of clothing. And as 
for food, the only measure recognized is that which is fixed by 
appetite. But when we turn to Sparta, we find that Lycurgus 
... set over the young Spartans a public guardian who enjoyed 
complete authority. This guardian was selected from those 

' Xenophon, Polity of the Laccdcemonians. The Works of Xenophon, 
translated by H. G. Dakyns. 4 vols. London, 1890-1897. Macmillan 
and Co. 

^ Xenophon, Polity of the Laccdamonians, 2-3. 

* The athletic field where outdoor sports were held. 



64 SPARTAN EDUCATION AND LIFE 

who filled the highest magistracies. He had the right to hold 
musters of the boys, and as their overseer, in case of any mis- 
behavior, to chastise them severely. The legislator further 
provided the guardian with a body of youths in the prime of 
life, and bearing whips, to inflict punishment when necessary. 
The happy result is that in Sparta modesty and obedience 
ever go hand in hand, nor is there lack of either. 

Instead of softening their feet with shoe or sandal, the rule 
of Lycurgus was to make them hardy through going barefoot. 
This habit, if practiced, would, a§ he believed, enable them to 
scale heights more easily and clamber down precipices with less 
danger. In fact, with his feet so trained, the young Spartan 
could leap and spring and run faster unshod than another shod 
in the ordinary way. Instead of making them effeminate with 
a variety of clothes, his rule was to habituate them to a 
single garment the whole year through, thinking that so they 
would be better prepared to withstand the variations of heat 
and cold. 

Again, as regards food, the Eiren, or head of the flock, must 
see that his messmates gathered to the club meal, with such 
moderate food as to avoid that heaviness which is engendered 
by repletion, and yet not to remain altogether unacquainted 
with the pains of penurious living. . . . 

Though Lycurgus did not actually allow the boys to help 
themselves without further trouble to what they needed more, 
he did give them permission to steal this thing or that in the 
effort to alleviate their hunger. It was not, of course, from any 
real difficulty how else to supply them with nutriment that 
he left it to them to provide themselves by this crafty 
method. . . . 

It is obvious, I say, that the whole of this education tended, 
and it was intended, to make the boys craftier and more inven- 
tive in getting supplies, while at the same time it cultivated 
their warlike instincts. An objector may retort, "But if Ly- 
curgus thought it so fine a feat to steal, why did he inflict all 
those blows on the unfortunate who was caught? " My answer 



SOCIAL CUSTOMS 65 

is: for the identical reason which induces people, in other 
matters which are taught, to punish the mal-performance of 
a service. So they, the Spartans, visit penalties on the boy 
who is detected thieving, as being but a sorry bungler in the 
art. . . . 

Furthermore, and in order that the boys should not want a 
ruler, even in case the public guardian himself was absent, he 
gave to any citizen who chanced to be present authority to lay 
upon them injunctions for their good, and to chastise them for 
any trespass committed. By so doing he created in the boys 
of Sparta a most rare modesty and reverence. And indeed 
there is no one whom, whether as boys or men, they respect 
more highly than the ruler. . . . 

In his desire firmly to implant in their youthful souls a root 
of modesty Lycurgus imposed upon the bigger boys a special 
law. In the very streets they were to keep their two hands 
within the folds of the cloak; and were to walk in silence and 
without turning their heads to gaze, now here, now there. 
They were rather to keep their eyes fixed upon the ground be- 
fore them. . . . You might sooner expect a stone image to 
find voice than one of those Spartan youths; to divert the eyes 
of some bronze statue would be less difficult. And as to quiet 
bearing, no bride ever stepped in bridal bower with more 
natural modesty. Note them when they have reached the 
pubUc table. The plainest answer to the question asked — 
that is all you need expect to hear from their lips. 

26. Social Customs ^ 

... I must now try to describe the style of living which 
Lycurgus established for the whole body of citizens, irrespective 
of age. When Lycurgus first came to deal with this question, 
the Spartans, just as the rest of the Greeks, used to mess pri- 
vately at home. Tracing more than half the current misde- 
meanors to this custom, he determined to drag his people out 

^ Xenophon, Polity of the Laccdanionians , 5. 



66 SPARTAN EDUCATION AND LIFE 

of holes and corners into the broad dayhght, and so he invented 
the pubUc messes.^ . . . 

As to food, his ordinance allowed them as much as . . . 
should guard them from actual want. And, in fact, there are 
many exceptional dishes in the shape of game suppHed from 
the hunting field. As a substitute for these, rich men will 
occasionally garnish the feast with wheaten loaves. So that 
from beginning to end, till the mess breaks up, the common 
board is never stinted for viands, nor yet is extravagantly 
furnished. 

So also in the matter of drink. Though he put a stop to all 
unnecessary potations, detrimental aHke to a firm brain and 
a steady gait, he left them free to quench thirst when nature 
dictated; a method which would at once add to the pleasure, 
while it diminished the danger, of drinking. And indeed one 
may fairly ask how, on such a system of common meals, it 
would be possible for anyone to ruin himself or his family 
through either gluttony or wine-bibbing. . . . The scene, in 
fact, but Httle lends itself to the intrusion of violence or drunken 
riot; ugly speech and ugly deeds ahke are out of place. . . . 

In connection with this matter, Lycurgus had not failed to 
observe the effect of equal amounts of food on different per- 
sons. The hard-working man has a good complexion, his 
muscles are well fed, he is robust and strong. The man who 
abstains from work, on the other hand, may be detected by his 
miserable appearance; he is blotched and puffy and devoid of 
strength. This observation, I say, was not wasted on Lycur- 
gus. On the contrary, turning it over in his mind that anyone 
who chooses to devote himself to toil may hope to present a 
very creditable appearance physically, he enjoined upon the 
eldest for the time being in every gymnasium to see to it that 
the labors of the class were proportionate to the amount of 
food. ... It would be hard to discover a healthier or more 

1 As a matter of fact the Spartan custom of communal meals for the men 
was the survival of a practice widespread among savage and barbarous 
peoples. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SPARTAN STATE 67 

completely developed human being, physically speaking, than 
the Spartan. His gymnastic training, in fact, makes demands 
on the legs and arms and neck, etc., simultaneously. 

27. Characteristics of the Spartan State ^ 

There are yet other customs in Sparta which Lycurgus insti- 
tuted in opposition to those of the rest of Greece, and the 
following among them. We all know that in most states every 
one devotes his full energy to the business of making money. 
One man is a tiller of the soil, another is a mariner, a third is a 
merchant, while others depend on various arts to earn a Uving. 
But Lycurgus forbade his freeborn citizens to have anything 
whatsoever to do with the concerns of money-making. . . . 

And indeed, one may well ask for what reason should wealth 
be regarded as a matter for serious pursuit in a community 
where, partly by a system of equal contributions to the neces- 
saries of hfe, and partly by the maintenance of a common 
standard of hving, the lawgiver placed so effectual a check upon 
the desire for riches for the sake of luxury? What inducement, 
for instance, would there be to make money, even for the sake 
of wearing apparel, in a state where personal adornment is held 
to He, not in the costliness of the clothes one wears, but in the 
healthy condition of the body to be clothed? . . . 

Lycurgus went a step further and set up a strong barrier . . . 
against the pursuit of money-making by wrongful means. In 
the first place, he established a coinage of so extraordinary a 
sort,2 that even a single sum of ten minas ^ could not come into 
a house without attracting the notice, either of the master him- 
self, or of some member of his household. In fact, it would 
occupy a considerable space, and need a wagon to carry it, . . . 

* Xenophon, Polity of the Lacedamonians , 7, 9-10. 

* The celebrated iron money. Although the Spartans attributed their 
bulky currency to Lycurgus, it seems rather to have been merely a survival 
from prehistoric times when the baser metals circulated instead of gold and 
silver. The Spartans had no coined money until the second century b. c. 

3 About $180. 



68 SPARTAN EDUCATION AND LIFE 

The following also may well excite our admiration for Lycur- 
gus. I speak of the consummate skill with which he induced 
the whole state of Sparta to regard an honorable death as pref- 
erable to an ignoble Ufe. ... It is clear that the lawgiver set 
himself deliberately to provide all the blessings of heaven for 
the good man, and a sorry and ill-starred existence for the 
coward. In other states the man who shows himself base and 
cowardly wins an evil reputation and the nickname of a coward 
— but that is all. For the rest he buys and sells in the same 
marketplace with the good man; he sits beside him at the 
play; he exercises with him in the same gymnasium, and all 
as suits his pleasure. But in Sparta there is not one man who 
would not feel ashamed to welcome the coward at the com- 
mon mess-table, or to try conclusions with such an antagonist 
in a wrestling bout. . . . Such being the weight of infamy 
which is laid upon all cowards, I, for my part, am not surprised 
if in Sparta they deem death preferable to a life so steeped in 
dishonor and reproach. . . . 

It may be added that there is no doubt as to the great antiq- 
uity of this code of laws. Lycurgus himself is said to have 
lived in the days of the Heracleidae.^ But being of so long 
standing, these laws, even at this day, are still stamped in the 
eyes of other men with all the novelty of youth. And the 
most marvelous thing of all is that, while everybody is agreed 
to praise these remarkable institutions, there is not a single 
state which cares to imitate them. 

^ The Heraclidae (descendants of Heracles), according to Greek legend, 
were the leaders of the Dorian invasion of the Peloponnesus. 



CHAPTER VII 
XERXES AND THE PERSIAN INVASION OF GREECE i 

The Scythian expedition of Darius which added Thrace 
to the dominions of the Great King,^ was followed by fur- 
ther European conquests bringing the borders of Persia 
to the very doors of Greece. It was not long before the 
Greeks themselves had to face invasion and to engage in 
that tremendous struggle, the narrative of which forms 
the leading theme of the history by Herodotus. How 
the Ionian Greeks revolted against King Darius, how with 
aid from Athens and Eretria they captured and burned 
Sardis, how the formidable army sent to punish them met 
an ignominious repulse on the field of Marathon — all 
these famous events have been recorded by Herodotus in 
a story of undying charm. Perhaps the greatest interest 
attaches to the account of the invasion which Xerxes led 
in person against the states of Greece. Here the narrative 
has the power and movement of a dramatic poem. It is 
even more than the description of a mighty conflict be- 
tween two nations. It is the picture of a great king, lord 
of countless peoples, upon whose arrogance and overween- 
ing pride there comes suddenly the jealous wrath of 
Heaven. 

28. Preparations of Xerxes ' 

Now Xerxes, on first mounting the throne,"* was coldly dis- 
posed toward the Greek war, and made it his business to collect 

1 Herodotus. The translation of George Rawlinson, edited by A. J. 
Grant. 2 vols. London, 1897. John Murray. 

^ See pages 24-25. * Herodotus, vii, 5-6, 20-21, 24-25. 
* In 486 B. c. upon the death of his father Darius. 



70 THE PERSIAN INVASION OF GREECE 

an army against Egypt. ^ But Mardonius, who was at the 
court, and had more influence with him than any of the other 
Persians, being his own cousin, plied him with discourses, 
such as the following: "Master, it is not fitting that they of 
Athens escape scotfree, after doing the Persians such great 
in jury. 2 Complete the work which thou hast now in hand, 
and then, when the pride of Egypt is brought low, lead an 
army against Athens. So shalt thou thyself have good report 
among men, and others shall fear hereafter to attack thy coun- 
try." . . . All this he said because he longed for adventures, 
and hoped to become a satrap ' of Greece under the king. After 
a time he had his way, and persuaded Xerxes to do according 
to his desires. . . . 

Xerxes spent four full years in collecting his host and mak- 
ing ready all things that were needful for his soldiers. It was 
not till the close of the fifth year ■* that he set forth on his march, 
accompanied by a mighty multitude. Of all the armaments 
whereof any mention has reached us, this was by far the great- 
est. . . . For was there a nation in all Asia which Xerxes did 
not bring with him against Greece? Or was there a river, 
except those of unusual size, which sufficed for his troops to 
drink? One nation furnished ships; another was arrayed among 
the foot-soldiers; a third had to supply horses; a fourth, trans- 
ports for the horses and men, likewise for the transport ser- 
vice; a fifth, ships of war for the bridges; a sixth, ships 
and provisions. . . . 

In order that his fleet might not be obliged to sail around 
stormy Mount Athos, where the Persians had lost three 
hundred ships on a previous occasion, a canal is cut across 
the isthmus at its narrowest part. 

^ The Egyptians, subdued by Cambyses, had revolted from the Persians 
in 486 B. c. 

^ Referring to the participation of the Athenians in the Ionian revolt and 
the burning of Sardis, 499-498 b. c. 

* Title of a Persian governor. * 481 B. c. 



THE PERSIAN HOST ON THE MARCH 71 

It seems to me that Xerxes, in making the canal, was actu- 
ated by a feeling of pride. He wished to display the extent of 
his power, and to leave behirrd a memorial to posterity. For 
notwithstanding that it was open to him, with no trouble at 
all, to have had his ships drawn across the isthmus, yet he 
issued orders that a canal should be made through which the 
sea might flow. It was to be of such a width as would allow of 
two triremes passing through it abreast with the oars in action. 
He likewise gave to the same persons who were set over the dig- 
ging of the trench, the task of making a bridge across the river 
Strymon.^ 

While these things were in progress, Xerxes had cables pre- 
pared for his bridges, some of papyrus and some of white flax, 
a business which he entrusted to the Phoenicians and the Egyp- 
tians. He likewise laid up stores of provisions in various places, 
to save the army and the beasts of burden from suffering want 
upon their march into Greece. He inquired carefully about 
all the sites, and had the stores laid up in such as were most 
convenient. ... 

29. The Persian Host on the March 2 

Meanwhile the land army marches through Asia Minor 
to Sardis in Lydia. 

Here the first care of Xerxes was to send heralds into Greece 
who were to prefer a demand for earth and water, and to require 
that preparations should be made everywhere to feast the king. 
To Athens indeed and to Sparta he sent no such demand; but 
these ^cities excepted, his messengers went everywhere. Now 
this was the reason why he sent for earth and water to states 
which had already refused. He thought that, although they 
had refused when Darius made the demand, they would now 
be too frightened to venture to say him nay. So he sent 
his heralds, wishing to know for certain how it would be. 

1 The boundary between Thrace and Macedonia. 
^ Herodotus, vii, 32-37, 40-41. 



72 THE PERSIAN INVASION OF GREECE 

After this Xerxes made preparations to advance to Abydos, 
where the bridge across the Hellespont from Asia to Europe 
had been lately finished. ... It is seven furlongs ^ across from 
Abydos to the opposite coast. But when the channel had been 
bridged successfully, it happened that a great storm arising 
broke the whole work to pieces, and destroyed all that had 
been done. 

When Xerxes heard of the disaster, he was full of wrath, 
and straightway gave orders that the Hellespont should receive 
three hundred lashes, and that a pair of fetters should be cast 
into it. Nay, I have even heard it said that he bade the 
branders take their hot irons and brand the Hellespont. It 
is certain that he commanded those who scourged the waters 
to utter, as they lashed them, these wicked words: "Thou 
bitter water, thy lord lays on thee this punishment because 
thou hast wronged him without a cause, having suffered no 
evil at his hands. Verily King Xerxes will cross thee, whether 
thou wilt or no. Well dost thou deserve that no man should 
honor thee with sacrifice; for thou art of a truth a treacherous 
and unsavory river." While the sea was thus punished by his 
orders, he likewise commanded that the overseers of the work 
should lose their heads. Then they whose business it was 
executed the unpleasing task laid upon them; and other men 
rebuilt the bridge more firmly than before. . . . 

When news came to Xerxes that the canal at Athos was 
completely finished, the host, having first wintered at Sardis, 
began its march toward Abydos, on the first approach of 
spring.^ At the moment of departure, the sun suddenly quitted 
his seat in the heavens, and disappeared, though there were 
no clouds in sight, but the sky was clear and serene. Day was 
thus turned into night. Xerxes, who saw and remarked the 
prodigy, was seized with alarm, and sending at once for the 
Magians,^ inquired of them the meaning of the portent. They 
repHed, "God is foreshowing to the Greeks the destruction of 

^ Somewhat less than a mile. ^ This was the spring of 480 B.C. 

' The Persian priests. See page 10. 



THE PERSIAN HOST ON THE MARCH 73 

their cities; for the sun foretells for them, and the moon for 
us." So Xerxes, thus instructed, proceeded on his way with 
great gladness of heart. . . . 

First of all went the baggage-bearers and the beasts of bur- 
den, and then a vast crowd of many nations mingled together 
without any intervals, amounting to more than one half of the 
army. After these troops an empty space was left between 
them and the king. In front of the king went first a thousand 
horsemen, picked men of the Persian nation — then spear- 
men a thousand, likewise chosen troops, with their spear- 
heads pointing toward the ground — next ten of the sacred 
horses called Nisaean,^ all daintily caparisoned. . . . After 
the ten sacred horses came the holy chariot of Zeus, drawn 
by eight milk-white steeds, with the charioteer on foot behind 
them holding the reins; for no mortal is ever allowed to mount 
into the car. Next to this came Xerxes himself, riding in a 
chariot drawn by Nisaean horses, with his charioteer standing 
by his side. 

Thus rode forth Xerxes from Sardis — but he was accus- 
tomed every now and then, when the fancy took him, to alight 
from his chariot and travel in a litter. Immediately behind 
the king there followed a body of a thousand spearmen, the 
noblest and bravest of the Persians, holding their lances in 
the usual manner.^ Then came a thousand Persian cavalry, 
picked men — then ten thousand,^ picked also after the rest, 
and serving on foot. Of these last one thousand carried spears 
with golden pomegranates at their lower end, instead of spikes; 
and these encircled the other nine thousand, who bore on their 
spears pomegranates of silver. The spearmen, also, who pointed 
their lances toward the ground, had golden pomegranates; 
and the thousand Persians who followed close after Xerxes, 
had golden apples. Behind the ten thousand footmen came a 

1 From the Nisaean plain in Media. 
^.That is, with the point upward. 

'They were called the " Immortals" because their number was always 
kept at 10,000. 



74 THE PERSIAN INVASION OF GREECE 

body of Persian cavalry, in number ten thousand. After these 
there was again a void space for as much as two furlongs; and 
then the rest of the army followed in a confused crowd. 



30. Passage of the Hellespont ^ 

Xerxes now marches northward through Asia Minor, 
At the site of Troy he makes an offering of a thousand 
oxen to the Trojan gods and pours out libations to the 
shades of the heroes who perished in the siege of the 
city. Then, with his army, he proceeds to Abydos on the 
Hellespont. 

When he had arrived here, Xerxes wished to look upon all his 
host. Now there was a throne of white marble upon a hill near 
the city, which the people of Abydos had prepared beforehand, 
by the king's bidding, for his especial use. Xerxes took his seat 
on it, and gazing thence upon the shore below, beheld at one 
view all his land forces and all his ships. While thus employed, 
he felt a desire to behold a sailing-match between his ships, 
which accordingly took place. It was won by the Phoenicians of 
Sidon, much to the joy of Xerxes, who was delighted ahke with 
the race and with his army. 

And now, as he looked and saw the whole Hellespont covered 
with the vessels of his fleet, and all the shore and every plain 
about Abydos as full as possible of men, Xerxes congratulated 
himself on his good fortune; but after a Httle while he wept. 
Then Artabanus, the king's uncle . . . when he heard that 
Xerxes was in tears, went to him, and said, "How different, 
sir, is what thou art now doing from what thou didst a Httle 
while ago! Then thou didst congratulate thyself; and now 
behold! thou weepest." And Xerxes answered, "There came 
upon me a sudden pity, when I thought of the shortness of 
man's life, and considered that of all this host ... no one will 
be alive when a hundred years are gone by." . . . 

^ Herodotus, vii, 44-46, 54, 56, 60. 



PASSAGE OF THE HELLESPONT 75 

All that day the preparations for the passage continued; 
and on the morrow they burnt all kinds of spices upon the 
bridges, and strewed the way with myrtle-boughs, while they 
waited anxiously for the sun, which they hoped to see as he rose. 
And when the sun appeared, Xerxes took a golden goblet and 
poured from it a libation into the sea, praying meanwhile, with 
his face turned to the sun, that no misfortune might befall him 
such as to hinder his conquest of Europe, until he had pene- 
trated to its uttermost boundaries. After he had prayed, 
he cast the golden cup into the Hellespont, and with it a golden 
bowl and a Persian sword. ... I cannot say for certain whether 
it was as an offering to the sun god that he threw these things 
into the deep, or whether he had repented of having scourged 
the Hellespont, and thought by his gift to make amends to the 
sea for what he had done. ... As soon as Xerxes had reached 
the European side, he stood to contemplate his army as they 
crossed under the lash. And the crossing continued during 
seven days and seven nights, without a rest or pause. 'Tis 
said that here, after Xerxes had made the passage, a Helles- 
pontian exclaimed, "Why, Zeus, dost thou, in the likeness 
of a Persian man, and with the name of Xerxes instead of thine 
own, lead the whole race of mankind to the destruction of 
Greece? It would have been as easy for thee to destroy it 
without their aid!" ... 

Upon the wide plain of Doriscus in Thrace, Xerxes 
counts and reviews his vast host. 

What the exact number of the troops of each nation was I 
cannot say with certainty — for it is not mentioned by any 
one — but the whole land army together was found to amount 
to one million seven hundred thousand men.^ The manner in 

^ These figures exclude not only the cavalry and the sailors in the fleet, 
but also the countless hordes of non-combatants and camp-followers. Add- 
ing all these together Herodotus estimates that the expedition of Xerxes 
brought a host of 5,000,000 individuals into Europe ^ — -a veritable human 
avalanche. But it is clear that such huge numbers are wholly fabulous. 



76 THE PERSIAN INVASION OF GREECE 

which the numbering took place was the following. A body of 
ten thousand men was brought to a certain spot, and the men 
were made to stand as close together as possible ; after which 
a circle was drawn around them, and the men were let go. 
Where the circle had been, a fence was built about the height 
of a man's middle ; and the inclosure was filled continually 
with fresh troops, till the whole army had in this way been 
numbered. When the numbering was over, the troops were 
drawn up according to their several nations. 

31. The Battle at the Pass of Thermopylae i 

And now Xerxes, having marched unopposed through 
Thrace, Macedonia, and Thessaly, approaches the Pass 
of Thermopylae, the entrance to central Greece. Here 
Leonidas of Sparta, with three hundred Spartans and a 
few thousand allies, had been posted to hold the pass until 
the Greeks should be able to dispatch the main body of 
their troops against the invading host. 

Xerxes sent a mounted spy to observe the Greeks, and note 
how many they were, and see what they were doing. He had 
heard, before he came out of Thessaly, that a few men were 
assembled at this place, and that at their head were certain 
Spartans, under Leonidas, a descendant of Heracles. The 
horseman rode up to the camp, and looked about him, but did 
not see the whole army; for such as were on the further side of 
the wall ... it was not possible for him to behold. However, 
he observed those on the outside, who were encamped in front 
of the rampart. It chanced that at this time the Spartans held 
the outer guard, and were seen by the spy. Some of them were 
engaged in gymnastic exercises, others combing their long hair. 
At this the spy greatly marveled, but he counted their num- 
ber, and when he had taken accurate note of everything, he rode 
back quietly. No one pursued after him, or paid any heed to 

^Herodotus, vii, 208, 210-212, 223-226. 



BATTLE AT THE PASS OF THERMOPYL^ 77 

his visit. So he returned and told Xerxes all that he had 
seen. . . . 

Four whole days Xerxes suffered to go by, expecting that 
the Greeks would run away. When, however, he found on the 
fifth day that they were not gone, thinking that their firm stand 
was mere impudence and recklessness, he grew wroth and sent 
against them the Medes and Cissians, with orders to take them 
alive and bring them into his presence. Then the' Medes rushed 
forward and charged the Greeks, but fell in vast numbers. 
Others, however, took the places of the slain, and would not 
be beaten off, though they suffered terrible losses. In this way 
it became clear to all, and especially to the king, that though 
he had plenty of combatants, he had but very few warriors. 
The struggle, however, continued during the whole day. 

Then the Medes, having met so rough a reception, with- 
drew from the fight; and their place was taken by the band of 
Persians whom the king called his "Immortals." They, it 
was thought, would soon finish the business. But when they 
joined battle with the Greeks, it was with no better success 
than the Median detachment had met. Things went much 
as before — the two armies fighting in a narrow space, and the 
barbarians using shorter spears than the Greeks, and having 
no advantage from their numbers. The Spartans fought in 
a way worthy of note, and showed themselves far more skill- 
ful in fight than their adversaries. They would often turn 
their backs, and make as though they were all flying away, 
on which the barbarians would rush after them with much 
noise and shouting. Then the Spartans at their approach 
would wheel round and face their pursuers, in this way destroy- 
ing vast numbers of the enemy. Some Spartans likewise fell in 
these encounters, but only a very few. At last the Persians, 
finding that all their efforts to gain the pass availed nothing, 
and that, whether they attacked by divisions or in any other 
way, it was to no purpose, withdrew to their own quarters. 

During these assaults, it is said that Xerxes, who was watch- 
ing the battle, thrice leaped from the throne on which he sat, 



78 THE PERSIAN INVASION OF GREECE 

in terror for his army. Next day the combat was renewed, 
but with no better success on the part of the barbarians. . . . 

At this juncture, a Greek named Ephialtes, stirred by 
the hope of rich reward, reveals to Xerxes a mountain 
path by which the Greeks may be taken in the rear. 
By night he guides a Persian army over the mountain. 
When the Greeks learn of their betrayal, they withdraw 
in safety, all save Leonidas and his Spartans, together 
with the Thespians and Thebans. 

At sunrise Xerxes made libations, after which he waited 
until the time when the market is wont to fill,^ and then began 
his advance. ... So the barbarians under Xerxes began to 
draw nigh; and the Greeks under Leonidas, as they now went 
forth determined to die, advanced much further than on pre- 
vious days, until they reached the more open portion of the pass. 
Hitherto they had held their station within the wall, and from 
this had gone forth to fight at the point where the pass was 
the narrowest. Now they joined battle beyond the defile, and 
carried slaughter among the barbarians, who fell in heaps. 
Behind them the captains of the squadrons, armed with whips, 
urged their men forward with continual blows. Many were thrust 
into the sea, and there perished; a still greater number were 
trampled to death by their own soldiers; no one heeded the dy- 
ing. The Greeks were reckless of their own safety and desperate, 
since they knew that, as the mountain had been crossed, their 
destruction was nigh at hand. Accordingly, they exerted 
themselves with the most furious valor against the barbarians. 

By this time the spears of the greater number were all shiv- 
ered, and with their swords they hewed down the ranks of the 
Persians. And here, as they strove, Leonidas fell fighting 
bravely, together with many other famous Spartans, whose 
names I have taken care to learn on account of their great 
worthiness, as indeed I have those of all the three hundred. . . . 
^ About ten o'clock. 



REPULSE OF THE PERSIANS FROM DELPHI 79 

. . . And now there arose a fierce struggle between the 
Persians and the Spartans over the body of Leonidas, in which 
the Greeks four times drove back the enemy, and at last by their 
great bravery succeeded in bearing off the body. This com- 
bat was scarcely ended when the Persians with Ephialtes ap- 
proached. The Greeks, informed that they drew nigh, made 
a change in the manner of their fighting. Drawing back into 
the narrowest part of the pass, and retreating even behind the 
cross wall, they posted themselves upon a hillock, where they 
stood all drawn up together in one close body, except only the 
Thebans. The hillock of which I speak is at the entrance of 
the straits, where the stone lion stands which was set up in honor 
of Leonidas. Here they defended themselves to the last. 
Those who still had swords used them, and the others resisted 
with their hands and teeth. At length the barbarians, who 
in part had pulled down the wall and attacked them in front, 
in part had gone round and now encircled them upon every 
side, overwhelmed and buried beneath showers of missile 
weapons the remnant which was left. 

Thus nobly did the whole body of Spartans and Thespians 
behave. Nevertheless, one man is said to have distinguished 
himself above all the rest, to wit, Dieneces the Spartan. A 
speech which he made before the Greeks engaged the Medes, 
remains on record. One of the Trachinians told him, " Such was 
the number of the barbarians, that when they shot forth their 
arrows the sun would be darkened by their multitude." Die- 
neces, not at all frightened at these words, but making light of 
the Median numbers, answered, "Our Trachinian friend brings 
us excellent tidings. If the Medes darken the sun, we shall 
have our fight in the shade." . . . 

32. Repulse of the Persians from Delphi ^ 

The hard-won victory at Thermopylae allows the Per- 
sians to march without interruption through central 
1 Herodotus, viii, 36-38. 



8o THE PERSIAN INVASION OF GREECE 

Greece. A detachment from the main army is sent to 
plunder the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. 

When the Delphians heard what danger they were in, great 
fear fell on them. In their terror they consulted the oracle 
concerning the holy treasures, and inquired if they should bury 
them in the ground, or carry them away to some other country. 
The god, in reply, bade them leave the treasures untouched. 
He was able, he said, without help to protect his own. So the 
Delphians, when they received this answer, began to think 
about saving themselves. First of all they sent their women 
and children across the Gulf of Corinth into Achaea. Then 
the greater number of them climbed up into the tops of Par- 
nassus,^ and placed their goods for safety in a cave; while some 
effected their escape to Locris. In this way all the Delphians 
quitted the city, except sixty men and the Prophet. 

When the barbarian assailants drew near and were in sight 
of the place, the Prophet beheld, in front of the' temple, a 
part of the sacred armor, which it was not lawful for any 
mortal hand to touch, lying upon the ground. It had been 
removed from the inner shrine where it was wont to hang. 
Then went he and told the prodigy to the Delphians who had 
remained behind. Meanwhile the enemy pressed forward 
briskly, and had reached the shrine of Athena, when they were 
overtaken by other prodigies still more wonderful than the 
first. Truly it was marvel enough, when instruments of war 
were seen lying outside the temple, removed there by super- 
natural power. What followed, however, exceeded in strange- 
ness all prodigies that had ever before been seen. The 
barbarians had just reached in their advance the chapel of 
Athena, when a storm of thunder burst suddenly over their 
heads. At the same time two crags split off from Mount Par- 
nassus, and rolled down upon them with a loud noise, crushing 
vast numbers beneath their weight. And from the Temple of 
Athena there went up the war-cry and the shout of victory. 

1 The mountain, in a defile of which the Delphic oracle was situated. 



CAPTURE OF THE ATHENIAN ACROPOLIS 8i 

All these things together struck terror into the barbarians, 
who forthwith turned and fled. The Delphians, seeing this, 
came down from their hiding-places, and smote them with great 
slaughter, from which such as escaped fled straight into Boeotia. 
These men on their return, declared (as I am told) that besides 
the marvels mentioned above, they witnessed also other super- 
natural sights. Two armed warriors, they said, of a stature 
more than human, pursued after their flying ranks, pressing 
them close and slaying them.^ 

33. Capture of the Athenian Acropolis ^ 

Since the passage of the Hellespont and the commencement 
of the march upon Greece, a space of four months had gone by: 
one, while the army made the crossing, and delayed about the 
region of the Hellespont; and three while they proceeded thence 
to Attica, which they now entered. They found the city for- 
saken. A few people, only, remained in the temple, either 
keepers of the treasures, or men of the poorer sort. These 
persons, having fortified the citadel with planks and boards, 
held out against the enemy. It was in some measure their 
poverty which had prevented them from seeking shelter in 
Salamis. There was likewise another reason which in part 
induced them to remain. They imagined themselves to have 
discovered the true meaning of the oracle uttered by the Pytho- 
ness, which promised that "the wooden wall" should never 
be taken. The wooden wall, they thought, did not mean 
the ships, but the place where they had taken refuge. 

The Persians encamped upon the hill over against the cita- 
del, which is called the Hill of Ares ^ by the Athenians. They 
began the siege of the place by attacking the Greeks with arrows 

' It is likely that Xerxes underestimated . the difficulty of capturing 
Delphi and sent an insufficient body of troops against the town. In the 
narrative by Herodotus, the Persian defeat is attributed to the aid of Apollo 
— a legend which was invented, doubtless, by Apollo's priests at Delphi. 

^ Herodotus, viii, 51-53. 

" The seat of the Council of the Areopagus. 



82 THE PERSIAN INVASION OF GREECE 

to which pieces of lighted tow were attached. These they 
shot at the barricade. And now those who were within the 
citadel found themselves in a most woeful case; for their wooden 
rampart betrayed them; still, however, they continued to 
resist. It was in vain that the Pisistratidae ^ came to them and 
offered terms of surrender. They stoutly refused all parley. 
Among other modes of defense they rolled down huge masses 
of stone upon the barbarians* as they were mounting up to the 
gates: so that Xerxes was for a long time very greatly per- 
plexed, and could not contrive any way to take them. 

At last, however, in the midst of these many difficulties, 
the barbarians made discovery of an access to the Acropolis. 
For verily the oracle had spoken truth, and it was fated that the 
whole mainland of Attica should fall beneath the sway of the 
Persians. Right in front of the citadel, but behind the gates 
and the common ascent — where no watch was kept, and no 
one would have thought it possible that any foot of man could 
climb — a few soldiers mounted from the sanctuary of Aglaurus. 
As soon as the Athenians saw them upon the summit, some 
threw themselves headlong from the wall, and so perished; 
while others fled for refuge to the inner part of the temple. 
The Persians rushed to the gates and opened them, after which 
they massacred the suppliants. When all were slain, they 
plundered the temple, and fired every part of the citadel.^ 

34. The Battle of Salamis ^ 

After the capture of Athens the hopes of the Greeks cen- 
ter in the "wooden walls " of their fleet. In the naval battle 
of Salamis, the Persians are overwhelmingly defeated. 

^ The adherents of Hippias, son of Pisistratus, after expulsion from 
Athens, had returned to Greece with the army of Xerxes. See page 60. 

' The AcropoHs of Athens is a position of great natural strength. It is 
probable that the Athenians thought the place could be held against the 
Persians and so left a small garrison within the citadel. The story of the 
oracle about the "wooden wall " may be regarded as a subsequent invention. 

* Herodotus, viii, 86-88. 



THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS 83 

The greater number of the Persian ships engaged in this 
battle were disabled — either by the Athenians or by the 
^ginetans. Since the Greeks fought in order and kept their 
line, while the barbarians were in confusion and had no plan 
in anything that they did, the issue of the battle could scarce 
be other than it was. Yet the Persians fought far more 
bravely here than at Euboea,^ and indeed surpassed them- 
selves. Each did his utmost through fear of Xerxes, for each 
thought that the king's eye was upon himself.^ 

What part the several nations, whether Greek or barbarian, 
took in the combat, I am not able to say for certain. Arte- 
misia,' however, distinguished herself in such a way as raised 
her even higher than she stood before in the esteem of the king. 
For after confusion had spread throughout the whole of the 
Persian fleet, and her ship was closely pursued by an Athenian 
trireme . . . she resolved on a measure which in fact proved 
her safety. Pressed by the Athenian pursuit, she bore straight 
against one of the ships of her own party, a Calyndian, which 
had the Calyndian king himself on board. I cannot say whether 
or not she had had any quarrel with the man while the fleet 
was at the Hellespont, neither can I decide whether she of set 
purpose attacked his vessel, or whether it merely chanced 
that the Calyndian ship came in her way. Certain it is, how- 
ever, that she bore down upon his vessel and sank it, and that 
thereby she had the good fortune to procure herself a double 
advantage. For the commander of the Athenian trireme, 
when he saw her bear down on one of the enemy's fleet, thought 
immediately that her vessel was a Greek, or else had deserted 
from the Persians, and was now fighting on the Greek side. 
He therefore gave up the chase, and turned away to attack 
others. 

1 Referring to the sea fight of Artemisium off the northern coast of 
Euboea. 

^ Xerxes watched the battle from a high throne on the hillside overlook- 
ing the Bay of Salamis. In the clear atmosphere every detail of the fight 
must have been visible to the monarch and his courtiers. 

' Queen of Halicarnassus in Asia Minor. 



84 THE PERSIAN INVASION OF GREECE 

Thus in the first place she saved her Hfe by the action, and 
was enabled to get away from the battle. Furthermore, it fell 
out that in the very act of doing the king an injury she raised 
herself to a greater height than ever in his esteem. For as 
Xerxes beheld the fight, he noticed the destruction of the ves- 
sel. Whereupon the bystanders said to him, "Seest thou, 
master, how well Artemisia fights, and how she has just sunk 
a ship of the enemy?" Then Xerxes asked if it was really 
Artemisia's doing; and they answered, "Certainly; for we 
know her ensign": while all were sure that the sunken vessel 
belonged to the opposite side. Everything, it is said, conspired 
to prosper the queen — it was especially fortunate for her that 
not one of those on board the Calyndian ship survived to be- 
come her accuser. Xerxes, they say, in reply to the remarks 
made to him, remarked, "My men have behaved Hke women, 
my women like men!" 

After Salamis, Xerxes, fearing for his personal safety, 
hastened back to Persia. He left Mardonius in Greece 
with a strong army to complete the subjugation of the pen- 
insula. In the closing chapters of Herodotus we learn 
how the Spartans and Athenians, on the bloody field of 
Platasa, removed all danger of Persian conquest and gave 
to Greece that splendid half-century of progress so rudely 
broken by the Peloponnesian War. 



CHAPTER VIII 

EPISODES FROM THE PELOPONNESIAN WARi 

The only work of Thucydides, greatest of Athenian his- 
torians, is a history of the Peloponnesian War. In the 
preface to his book Thucydides indicates the importance 
of the subject: "Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the his- 
tory of the war in which the Peloponnesians and the Athe- 
nians fought against one another. He began to write when 
they first took up arms, believing that it would be great 
and memorable above any previous war. For he argued 
that both states were then at the full height of their mil- 
itary power, and he saw the rest of the Greeks either 
siding or intending to side with one or other of them. 
No movement ever stirred Greece more deeply than this; 
it was shared by many of the barbarians, and might be 
said even to affect the world at large." 

35. The Athenian and the Spartan Character * 

The real, though una vowed, cause of the war, Thucydides 
finds in the growth of the Athenian power, which alarmed 
the Spartans and forced them into the conflict. The 
immediate cause was Athenian interference between 
Corinth and her colonies of Corcyra and Potidtea. In 
432 B. c. envoys from Corinth and other states appeared 
at Sparta and appealed to the Spartans as the leaders of 

' Thucydides. The translation by Benjamin Jowett. ist edition. 
Oxford, 1 88 1. Clarendon Press. 
^ Thucydides, i, 70-71. 



86 EPISODES FROM THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 

the Peloponnesus, for aid against Athens. In their speech 
before the Spartan Assembly the Corinthian envoys drew 
a striking contrast between the characters and aims of the 
two great rival cities of Greece. 

. . . You have never considered what manner of men are 
these Athenians with whom you will have to fight, and how 
utterly unlike yourselves. They are revolutionary, equally 
quick in the conception and in the execution of every new plan. 
You are conservative — careful only to keep what you have, 
originating nothing, and not acting even when action is most 
necessary. They are bold beyond their strength; they run 
risks which prudence would condemn; and in the midst of mis- 
fortune they are full of hope. It is your nature, though strong, 
to act feebly; when your plans are most prudent, to distrust 
them; and when calamities come upon you, to think that you 
will never be delivered from them. . . . When conquerors, 
they pursue their victory to the utmost; when defeated, they 
fall back the least. Their bodies they devote to their coun- 
try as though they belonged to other men; their true self is 
their mind, which is most truly their own when employed in 
her service. ... To do their duty is their only holiday, and 
they deem the quiet of inaction to be as disagreeable as the most 
tiresome business. If a man should say of them, in a word, 
that they were born neither to have peace themselves nor to 
allow peace to other men, he would simply speak the truth. 

In the face of such an enemy, you persist in doing nothing. 
. . . But here let your procrastination end; send an army at 
once into Attica and assist your allies, especially the Potid£eans,i 
to whom your word is pledged. Do not allow friends and kin- 
dred to fall into the hands of their worst enemies; or drive us 
in despair to seek the alliance of others. . . . We will remain 
your friends if you choose to bestir yourselves; for we should 
be guilty of an impiety if we deserted you without cause; and 

1 Potidasa, a city of Chalcidice, was a tributary ally of Athens. Its 
revolt in 432 b. c. had led to its investment by an Athenian army. 



FUNERAL SPEECH OF PERICLES 87 

we shall not easily find allies equally congenial to us. Take 
heed then: you have inherited from your fathers the leader- 
ship of the Peloponnesus; see that her greatness suffers no 
diminution at your hands. 

The Spartan Assembly now voted that Athens had vio- 
lated the terms of the Thirty Years' Truce. ^ Soon after 
this decision a congress of all the Peloponnesian states 
declared war against Athens. 

36. Funeral Speech of Pericles ^ 

The first year of the war came to an end, and neither 
Athens nor Sparta had secured a decided advantage. 
During the winter of that year, in accordance with an an- 
cient custom, the Athenians celebrated the public fu- 
neral of those who had fallen in the defense of their city. 
When the bodies had been laid in earth, Pericles came for- 
ward and delivered the funeral oration which was usual 
at such an occasion. His speech was really a splendid 
panegyric upon Athens and Athenian civilization. 

Our form of government does not enter into rivalry with 
the institutions of others. We do not copy our neighbors, but 
are an example to them. It is true that we are called a democ- 
racy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and 
not of the few. But while the law secures equal justice to all 
alike in their private disputes, the claim of excellence is also 
recognized. When a citizen is in any way distinguished, he 
is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, 
but as the reward of merit. Even poverty is not a bar, but a 
man may benefit his country whatever be the obscurity of his 
condition. There is no exclusiveness in our pubHc life, and in 

^ Arranged between Athens and the Peloponnesian League in 445 b. c. 
' Thucydides, ii, 37-41. 



88 EPISODES FROM THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 

our private intercourse we are not suspicious of one another, 
or angry with our neighbor if he does what he likes; we do not 
put on sour looks at him which, though harmless, are not 
pleasant. While we are thus unconstrained in our private 
intercourse, a spirit of reverence pervades our public acts. . . . 

And we have not forgotten to provide for our weary spirits 
many relaxations from toil. We have regular games and 
sacrifices throughout the year. At home the style of our 
life is refined; and the delight which we daily feel in all 
these things helps to banish melancholy. Because of the 
greatness of our city the fruits of the whole earth flow in upon 
us; so that we enjoy the goods of other countries as freely as 
of our own. 

Then, again, our military training is in many respects supe- 
rior to that of our adversaries. Our city is thrown open to the 
world, and we never expel a foreigner or prevent him from 
seeing or learning anything of which the secret if revealed to 
an enemy might profit him. We rely, not upon management 
or trickery, but upon our own hearts and hands. And in the 
matter of education, whereas they from early youth are always 
undergoing laborious exercises which are to make them brave, 
we live at ease, and yet are equally ready to face the perils 
which they face. . . . 

We are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, 
and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness. 
Wealth we employ, not for talk and ostentation, but when 
there is a real use for it. To avow poverty with us is no dis- 
grace; the true disgrace is in doing nothing to avoid it. An 
Athenian citizen does not neglect the state because he takes 
care of his own household; and even those of us who are engaged 
in business have a very fair idea of politics. We alone regard 
a man who takes no interest in public affairs, not as a harmless 
but as a useless character. If few of us are originators, we are 
all sound judges, of a policy. The great impediment to action 
is, in our opinion, not discussion, but the want of that knowl- 
edge which is gained by discussion preparatory to action. 



THE PLAGUE AT ATHENS 89 

For we have a peculiar power of thinking before we act and of 
acting too, whereas other men are courageous from ignorance 
but hesitate upon reflection. . . . 

To sum up: I say that Athens is the school of Hellas, and 
that the individual Athenian in his own person seems to have 
the power of adapting himself to the most varied forms of ac- 
tion with the utmost versatility and grace. . . . And we shall 
assuredly not be without witnesses; there are mighty monu- 
ments of our power which will make us the wonder of this and of 
succeeding ages. We shall not need the praises of Homer or 
of any other panegyrist whose poetry may please for the mo- 
ment, although his representation of the facts will not bear 
the light of day. For we have compelled every land and every 
sea to open a path for our valor, and have everywhere planted 
eternal memorials of our friendship and of our enmity. Such 
is the city for whose sake these men nobly fought and died. 
They could not bear the thought that she might be taken 
from them; and every one of us who survive should gladly 
toil on her behalf. 

37. The Plague at Athens ^ 

In the second year of the war (430 B.C.), a Peloponne- 
sian army entered Attica and ravaged far and wide. The 
Athenians refused a battle with the invaders and gathered 
behind their unassailable ramparts. But within the 
crowded city they had to contend with an enemy even more 
terrible than the Spartans. A great pestilence broke out. 

. . . Some of the sufferers died from want of care, others 
equally who were receiving the greatest attention. No single 
remedy could be deemed a specific; for that which did good 
to one did harm to another. No constitution was of itself 
strong enough to resist or weak enough to escape the attacks. 
The disease carried oflf all alike and defied every mode of treat- 

1 Thucydides, ii, 51, 53-54- 



go EPISODES FROM THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 

ment. Most appalling was the despondency which seized 
upon anyone who felt himself sickening; for he instantly 
abandoned his mind to despair and, instead of holding out, 
absolutely threw away his chance of life. Appalling, too, was 
the rapidity with which men caught the infection; dying like 
sheep if they attended on one another. . . . When they were 
afraid to visit one another, the sufferers died in their solitude, 
so that many houses were empty because there had been no one 
left to take care of the sick; or if they ventured they perished, 
especially those who aspired to heroism. ... But whatever 
instances there may have been of such devotion, more often 
the sick and the dying were tended by the pitying care of those 
who had recovered, because they knew the course of the dis- 
ease and were themselves free from apprehension. For no one 
was ever attacked a second time, at or least not with a fatal 
result. All men congratulated them, and they themselves, 
in the excess of their joy at the moment, had an innocent fancy 
that they could not die of any other sickness. . . . 

There were many forms of lawlessness which the plague 
introduced at Athens. Men who had hitherto concealed 
their indulgence in pleasure now grew bolder. Seeing the 
sudden change — how the rich died in a moment, and those 
who had nothing immediately inherited their property — they 
reflected that life and riches were alike transitory, and they 
resolved to enjoy themselves while they could, and to think 
only of pleasure. . . . No fear of God or law of man deterred 
a criminal. Those who saw all perishing alike, thought that 
the worship or neglect of the gods made no difference. For 
offenses against human law no punishment was to be feared; 
no one would live long enough to be called to account. Al- 
ready a far heavier sentence had been passed and was hanging 
over a man's head; before that fell, why should he not take a 
little pleasure? 

Such was the grievous calamity which now afflicted the 
Athenians; within the walls their people were dying, and with- 
out, their country was being ravaged. In their troubles they 



DEPARTURE OF THE FLEET 91 

naturally called to mind a verse which the elder men among 
them declared to have been current long ago: 

" A Dorian war will come and a plague with it." . . . 

38. The SicUian Expedition: Departure of the Fleet 1 

The most remarkable episode in the protracted story of 
the Peloponnesian War is that of the Sicilian expedition 
(415-413 B. c). Largely influenced by the advice of 
Alcibiades,^ then a popular hero, the Athenians determined 
to send out a great armament to capture Syracuse. This 
was a Sicilian city nearly as populous and powerful as 
Athens herself. When Nicias, a distinguished statesman, 
begged the Assembly to ponder well the perils of the 
expedition before they undertook it, the Athenians cast 
his warnings to the winds. So a great fleet and army 
were got ready. Alcibiades, Nicias, and Lamachus were 
the three commanders. 

. . . Early in the morning of the day appointed for their 
departure, the Athenians and such of their allies as had already 
joined them went down to Piraeus^ and began to man the 
ships. The entire population of Athens accompanied them, 
citizens and strangers alike. The citizens came to take fare- 
well, one of an acquaintance, another of a kinsman, another of 
a son. The people as they passed along were full of hope and 
full of tears; hope of conquering Sicily, tears because they 
doubted whether they would ever see their friends again, when 
they thought of the long voyage on which they were sending 
them. At the moment of parting the danger was nearer; and 
terrors which had never occurred to them when they were vot- 
ing the expedition now entered into their souls. Neverthe- 
less their spirits revived at the sight of the armament in all 
its strength. The strangers and the rest of the multitude • 

1 Thucydides, vi, 30-32. 2 g^g j-j^j^p jx. » The port of Athens. 



92 EPISODES FROM THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 

came out of curiosity, desiring to witness an enterprise of which 
the greatness exceeded beHef. 

No armament so magnificent or costly had ever before 
been sent out by any single Greek power. . . . This expedition 
was intended to be long absent, and was thoroughly provided 
both for sea and land service, wherever its presence might be 
required. On the fleet the greatest pains and expense had 
been lavished by the trierarchs ^ and the state. The public 
treasury gave a drachma ^ a day to each sailor, and furnished 
empty hulls for sixty swift saihng vessels, and for forty trans- 
ports carrying hoplites.^ All these were manned with the 
best crews which could be obtained. The trierarchs, besides 
the pay given by the state, added somewhat more out of their 
own means to the wages of the upper ranks of rowers and of 
the petty officers. The figure-heads and other fittings pro- 
vided by them were of the most costly description. Every one 
strove to the utmost that his own ship might excel both in beauty 
and swiftness. The infantry had been well selected and the 
lists carefully made up. There was the keenest rivalry among 
the soldiers in the matter of arms and personal equipment. . . . 

When the ships were manned and everything required for 
the voyage had been placed on board, silence was proclaimed 
by the sound of the trumpet, and all with one voice before set- 
ting sail offered up the customary prayers. These were recited, 
not in each ship, but by a single herald, the whole fleet accom- 
panying him. On every deck both oflficers and men, mingling 
wine in bowls, made libations from vessels of gold and silver. 
The multitude of citizens and other well-wishers who were 
looking on from the land joined in the prayer. The crews 
raised the Paean,* and when the libations were completed, put 
to sea. . . . 

* Wealthy citizens who bore the expense of outfitting the triremes. 
^ About 1 8 cents. 

^ Heavy-armed foot-soldiers. 

* A war-song sung before battle in honor of Ares, or after battle as a 
thanksgiving to Apollo. 



NAVAL BATTLE AT SYRACUSE 93 

39. The Sicilian Expedition: Naval Battle at Syracuse ^ 

At one time the Athenians very nearly succeeded in 
capturing Syracuse. But under an able general whom the 
Spartans had sent them, the Syracusans put up a stub- 
born defense. Nicias, who had now become the chief 
Athenian commander, was compelled to demand re- 
inforcements. So the Athenians dispatched another ex- 
pedition, almost as great as the first. Syracuse likewise 
received aid from her friends throughout Hellas. Even 
with fresh troops Nicias and his colleague Demosthenes 
could not capture the SiciKan city. At length, they re- 
solved to abandon the siege. The Syracusans promptly 
took the offensive and sought to destroy the host of the 
enemy before it could get away. They blockaded the 
mouth of the harbor in order to cut off all escape by sea. 
The fate of the Athenians depended upon their success 
in breaking through the barrier. 

. . . The last chance of the Athenians lay in their ships, 
and their anxiety was dreadful. The fortune of the battle va- 
ried; and it was not possible that the spectators on the shore 
should all receive the same impression of it. Some spectators, 
being quite close and having different points of view, would 
see their own ships victorious. Their courage would then re- 
vive, and they would earnestly call upon the gods not to take 
from them their hope of deliverance. But others, who saw 
their ships worsted, cried and shrieked aloud, and were by the 
sight alone more utterly unnerved than the defeated combat- 
ants themselves. Others again, who had fixed their gaze on 
some part of the struggle which was undecided, were in a state 
of excitement still more terrible. They kept swaying their 
bodies to and fro in an agony of hope and fear as the stubborn 
conflict went on and on; for at every instant they were all but 
^ Thucydides, vii, 71. 



94 EPISODES FROM THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 

saved or all but lost. And while the strife hung in the balance 
you might hear in the Athenian army at once lamentation, 
shouting, cries of victory or defeat, and all the various sounds 
which are wrung from a great host in extremity of danger. 
Not less agonizing were the feeUngs of those on board. 

At length the Syracusans and their allies, after a protracted 
struggle, put the Athenians to flight. Triumphantly bearing 
down upon them, and encouraging one another with loud 
cries and exhortations, they drove them to land. Then that 
part of the navy which had not been taken in the deep water 
fell back in confusion to the shore, and the crews rushed out 
of the ships into the camp. And the land-forces, no longer 
now divided in feehng, but uttering one universal groan of 
intolerable anguish, ran, some of them to save the ships, others 
to defend what remained of the wall ; but the greater number 
began to look to themselves and to their own safety. Never 
had there been a greater panic in an Athenian army than at 
that moment. . '." . And so now the Athenians, after the rout 
of their fleet, knew that they had no hope of saving themselves 
by land unless events took some extraordinary turn. 

40. The Sicilian Expedition: Flight and Capture of the Athenians ^ 

On the third day after the sea fight, when Nicias and Demos- 
thenes thought that their preparations were complete, the 
army began to retreat. They were in a dreadful condition. 
Not only was there the great fact that they had lost their whole 
fleet, and instead of their expected triumph had brought the 
utmost peril upon Athens as well as upon themselves, but also 
the sights which presented themselves as they quitted the camp 
were painful to every eye and mind. The dead were unburied, 
and when anyone saw the body of a friend lying on the ground 
he was smitten with sorrow and fear, while the sick or wounded 
who still survived but had to be left were even a greater trial 
to the living, and more to be pitied than those who were gone. 

1 Thucydides, vii, 75, 84-87. 



FLIGHT AND CAPTURE OF THE ATHENIANS 95 

. . . There was also a general feeling of shame and self- 
reproach. Indeed, they seemed, not like an army, but like the 
fugitive population of a city captured after a siege; and of a 
great city too. For the whole multitude who were marching 
together numbered not less than forty thousand. Each of 
them took with him anything he could carry which was likely 
to be of use. Even the heavy-armed soldiers and the cavalry, 
contrary to their practice when under arms, conveyed about 
their persons their own food, some because they had no attend- 
ants, others because they could not trust them; for they had 
long been deserting, and most of them had gone off all at once. 
Nor was the food which they carried sufficient, since the sup- 
plies of the camp had failed. 

Their disgrace and the universality of the misery, although 
there might be some consolation in the very community of 
suffering, was nevertheless at that moment hard to bear, espe- 
cially when they remembered from what pomp and splendor 
they had fallen into their present low estate. Never had a 
Greek army experienced such a reverse. They had come in- 
tending to enslave others, and they were going away in fear 
that they would be themselves enslaved. Instead of the prayers 
and hymns with which they had put to sea, they were now de- 
parting amid appeals to heaven of another sort. They were 
no longer sailors but landsmen, depending, not upon their 
fleet, but upon their infantry. Yet in the face of the great 
danger which still threatened them all these things appeared 
endurable. ... 

The end soon came. One division of the Athenian 
forces, under the command of Demosthenes, was sur- 
rounded and compelled to surrender. Then on the eighth 
day of the retreat, the Syracusans caught up with the 
second body of fugitives at the river Assinarus. 

The Syracusans stood upon the further bank of the river, 
which was steep, and hurled missiles from above on the Athe- 



96 EPISODES FROM THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 

nians, who were huddled together in the deep bed of the stream 
and for the most part were drinking greedily. The Pelopon- 
nesians came down the bank and slaughtered them, falling 
chiefly upon those who were in the river. Whereupon the water 
at once became foul, but was drunk all the same, although 
muddy and dyed with blood, and the crowd fought for it. 

At last, when the dead bodies were lying in heaps upon one 
another in the water and the army was utterly undone, some 
perishing in the river, and any who escaped being cut off rby the 
cavalry, Nicias surrendered to Gylippus,^ in whom he had more 
confidence than in the Syracusans. He entreated him and 
the Spartans to do what they pleased wdth himself, but not to 
go on kiUing the men. So Gylippus gave the word to make 
prisoners. Thereupon the survivors, not including, however, 
a large number whom the soldiers concealed, were brought in 
alive. . . . The total of the public prisoners when collected 
was not great; for many were appropriated by the soldiers, 
and the whole of Sicily was full of them, they not having 
capitulated as had the troops under Demosthenes. . . . 

The Syracusans and their allies gathered their forces and 
returned with the spoil, and as many prisoners as they could 
take with them, into the city. The captive Athenians and 
allies they deposited in the quarries, which they thought would 
be the safest place of confinement.^ Nicias and Demosthenes 
they put to the sword. . . . 

Those who were imprisoned in the quarries were at the 
beginning of their captivity harshly treated by the Syracusans. 
There were great numbers of them, and they were crowded 
in a deep and narrow place. At first the sun by day was still 
scorching and suffocating, for they had no roof over their heads, 
while the autumn nights were cold, and the extremes of tempera- 
ture engendered violent disorders. Being cramped for room 
they had to do everything on the same spot. The corpses of 

1 The Spartan commander. 

^ The vast quarries of Acradina, near Syracuse, are now a hundred feet 
in depth and many acres in extent. 



FLIGHT AND CAPTURE OF THE ATHENIANS 97 

those who died from their wounds, exposure to the weather and 
the Hke, lay heaped one upon another. The smells were intol- 
erable; and they were at the same time afflicted by hunger and 
thirst. During eight months they were allowed only about 
half a pint of water and a pint of food a day. Every kind of 
misery which could befall man in such a place befell them. 
This was the condition of all the captives for about ten weeks. 
At length the Syracusans sold them, with the exception of the 
Athenians and of any Sicilian or Italian Greeks who had sided 
with them in the war. The whole number of the pubHc pris- 
oners is not accurately known, but they were not less than 
seven thousand. 

Of all the Greek actions which took place in this war, or 
indeed of all Greek actions which are on record, this was 
the greatest — the most glorious to the victors, the most ruin- 
ous to the vanquished. For the latter were utterly and at all 
points defeated, and their sufferings were prodigious. Fleet 
and army perished from the face of the earth. Nothing was 
saved, and of the many who went forth few returned home. 
Thus ended the Sicilian expedition. 

The disaster at Syracuse occurred in 413 b. c. Athens, 
though sorely crippled by the loss of so many men and such 
great treasure upon this fruitless expedition, managed to 
continue the war with the Peloponnesians for nine years 
longer. But for the history of these later years we can 
no longer rely upon the vivid narrative of Thucydides. 
That breaks off abruptly in the middle of the twenty-first 
year of the war (411 B.C.). The final scenes of Spartan 
triumph and Athenian degradation were to be recorded 
by other and less able historians. 



CHAPTER IX 

ALCIBIADES THE ATHENIAN i 

The closing years of the Peloponnesian War, when the 
Athenians were struggling to recover from the disaster 
of the Sicilian expedition, are dominated by the person- 
ality of the brilliant but misguided Alcibiades. His biog- 
raphy by Plutarch (about 50-120 A. d.) is the fascinating 
characterization of a man whose virtues and whose faults 
were those of Athens herself. This account of Alcibiades 
forms one of the collection of forty-eight Parallel Lives of 
Greek and Roman worthies compiled by Plutarch. Our 
author was no historian; he cared little for poKtics; but 
preferred to study the personal characteristics, the vir- 
tues and the failings, of the representative men of anti- 
quity. "It must be borne in mind," he says, ''that my 
design is not to write histories, but lives. And the most 
glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clear- 
est examples of virtue or vice in men; sometimes a matter 
of less moment, an expression or a jest, informs us better 
of their characters and inclinations, than the most famous 
sieges, the greatest armaments, or the bloodiest battles 
whatsoever." ^ 

41. Boyhood and Early Youth ' 

Alcibiades, it is supposed, was anciently descended from 
Eurysaces, the son of Ajax,^ by his father's side; and by his 

^ Plutarch's Lives of Illuslrioiis Men. The Dryden translation, revised 
by A. H. Clough. Boston, 1859. Little, Brown, and Co. 

2 Plutarch, Alexander, i. ^ Plutarch, Alcibiades, 1-2, 4-5, 7. 

* A Greek hero at the siege of Troy. 



BOYHOOD AND EARLY YOUTH 



99 



mother's side from Alcmaeon.^ ... It is not necessary, per- 
haps, to say anything of the beauty of Alcibiades, only that it 
bloomed with him in all the ages of his life, in his infancy, in 
his youth, and in his manhood; and . . . gave him a peculiar 
grace and charm. . . . 

His conduct displayed many great inconsistencies and varia- 
tions, not unnaturally, in accordance with the many and won- 
derful vicissitudes of his fortunes. Among the strong passions 
of his real character, the one most prevailing was his desire for 
superiority. This appears in several anecdotes told of his 
sayings while he was a child. Once being hard pressed in 
wrestHng, and fearing to be thrown, he got the hand of 
his antagonist in his mouth, and bit it with all his force. 
The other loosed his hold presently and said, "You bite, 
Alcibiades, like a woman." "No," replied he, "Hke a lion." 
Another time, as he played at dice in the street, being then 
but a child, a loaded cart came that way, when it was his 
turn to throw. He called to the driver to stop, because he 
wished to throw in the way over which the cart was to pass. 
The man at first gave him no attention and drove on. 
Alcibiades then flung himself on his face before the cart, 
and, stretching himself out, bade the carter pass on now if 
he would. This action so startled the man that he put back 
his horses. . . . 

When Alcibiades began to study, he obeyed all his other 
masters fairly well, but refused to learn to play on the flute. 
He said that to play on the lute or the harp does not in any way 
disfigure a man's body or face, but one is hardly to be known 
by one's most intimate friends, when playing on the flute. 
Besides, one who plays on the harp may speak or sing at the 
same time; but the use of the flute stops the mouth, intercepts 
the voice, and prevents all articulation. "Therefore," said 
he, "let the Theban youths pipe, who do not know how to 
speak. But we Athenians, as our ancestors have told us, have 
Athena for our patroness and Apollo for our protector, one of 
^ A famous Athenian noble. See page 55. 



loo ALCIBIADES THE ATHENIAN 

whom threw away the flute/ and the other stripped the 
Fluteplayer^ of his skin." Thus, between raillery and good 
earnest, Alcibiades kept not only himself but others from 
learning, as it presently became the talk of the young boys, 
how Alcibiades despised playing on the flute, and ridiculed 
those who did. In consequence, flute-playing ceased to be 
reckoned among the liberal accompUshments, and became 
generally neglected. ... 

It was manifest that the many well-born persons who were 
continually seeking his company, and making their court to 
him, were attracted and captivated by his brilliant and 
extraordinary beauty only. But the affection entertained by 
Socrates ^ for him is strong evidence of the naturally noble 
qualities and good disposition of the boy, which Socrates, indeed, 
detected both in and under his personal beauty. Fearing that 
his wealth and station, and the great number both of strangers 
and Athenians who flattered and caressed him, might at last 
corrupt him, Socrates resolved to interpose and preserve so 
hopeful a plant from perishing in the flower, before its fruit 
came to perfection. . . . Such was the happiness of his genius, 
that he discerned Socrates from the rest, and admitted him, 
while he drove away the wealthy and the noble who made court 
to him. . . . 

To others who made their addresses to him Alcibiades was 
reserved and rough, and acted, indeed, with great insolence to 
some of them. Thus when Anytus, one who was very fond of 
him, had invited him to an entertainment which he had prepared 
for some strangers, Alcibiades refused the invitation. Having 
however, drunk to excess at his own house with some of his 
companions, Alcibiades went thither with them to play a prank 
on Anytus. Standing at the door of the room where the guests 
were enjoying themselves, and seeing the tables covered with 

1 Athena is said to have invented the flute which she soon cast aside 
because its use distorted the features. 

2 The satyr Marsyas. 

' The great Athenian philosopher. See chap. XI. 



BOYHOOD AND EARLY YOUTH loi 

gold and silver cups, he commanded his servants to take away 
half of them, and carry them to his own house. Disdaining 
so much a§ to enter the room himself, as soon as he had done 
this, he went away. The company was indignant, and exclaimed 
at his rude and insulting conduct. Anytus, however, said 
that Alcibiades had shown great consideration and tenderness 
in taking only a part when he might have taken all. 

He behaved in the same manner to all others who courted 
him except to one stranger, who, as the story goes, having but 
a small estate, sold it all for about a hundred staters,^ and 
presented them to Alcibiades. .Alcibiades, smihng and well 
pleased by the act, invited him to supper. After a very 
kind entertainment, Alcibiades gave him his gold again, re- 
quiring him, moreover, not to fail to be present the next day, 
when the public revenue was offered to farm, and to outbid all 
others. The man would have excused himself, because the 
contract was so large, and would cost many talents. But 
Alcibiades, who had at that time a private pique against the 
existing farmers of the revenue ,2 threatened to have him beaten 
if he refused. The next morning, the stranger, coming to the 
market place, offered a talent njore than the existing rate. 
Thereupon the tax-farmers . . . called upon him to name his 
sureties, concluding that he could find none. The poor man, 
being startled at the proposal, began to retire; but Alcibiades, 
standing at a distance, cried out to the magistrates, "Set my 
name down, he is a friend of mine; I will be security for him." 
When the other bidders heard this, they perceived that all their 
plans were defeated. Their way was, with the profits of the 
second year to pay the rent for the year preceding. Not seeing 
any other way to extricate themselves out of the difficulty, they 
began to entreat' the stranger, and offered him a sum of money. 
Alcibiades would not allow him to accept less than a talent. 
When that was paid down, he commanded him to relinquish 
the bargain, having by this device reheved his needs. . . . 

'The Attic stater, in fine gold, was equivalent to about $5.72. 
* Contractors who bid for the privilege of collecting the taxes. 



I02 ALCIBIADES THE ATHENIAN 

When he was past his childhood, he went once to a grammar- 
school, and asked the master for one of Homer's books. The 
latter answered that he had nothing of Homer's. Alcibiades then 
gave him a blow with his fist, and went away. When another 
schoolmaster told him that he had been correcting Homer, 
Alcibiades said, "And yet you employ your time in teaching 
children to read! You, who are able to correct Homer, may 
well undertake to instruct men." Being once desirous to speak 
with Pericles, he went to his house, and was told there that he 
was not at leisure, but busied in considering how to give up his 
accounts to the Athenians. Alcibiades, as he went away, said, 
"It would be better for him to consider how he might avoid 
giving up his accounts at all." . . . 

42. Public Life! 

. . . When still a youth, Alcibiades was a soldier in the 
expedition against Potidaea,^ where Socrates lodged in the same 
tent with him, and stood next to him in battle. Once there 
happened a sharp skirmish, in which they both behaved with 
signal bravery. Alcibiades receiving a wound, Socrates threw 
himself before him to defend him, and beyond any question 
saved him and his arms from the enemy. So in all justice 
Socrates might have claimed the prize of valor. But the 
generals appearing eager to adjudge the honor to Alcibiades, 
because of his rank, Socrates, who desired to increase his thirst 
after glory of a noble kind, was the first to give evidence for 
him, and pressed them to crown him, and to decree to him the 
complete suit of armor. Afterwards, in the battle of Dehum, 
when the Athenians were routed, Socrates with a few others 
was retreating on foot. Alcibiades, who was on horseback, 
observing it, would not pass on, but stayed to shelter him from 
the danger, and brought him safe off. . . . 

He gave a box on the ear to Hipponicus, the father of Callias, 
whose birth and wealth made him a person of great influence 

^Plutarch, AUcbiades, 7-1 1, 16. ^ See page 86, note i. 



PUBLIC LIFE 103 

and repute. And this he did unprovoked by any passion or 
quarrel between them, but only because, in a frolic, he had agreed 
with his companions to do it. People were justly offended at 
such insolence when it became known through the city. Early 
the next morning, Alcibiades went to his house and knocked 
at the door. Being admitted, Alcibiades took off his outer gar- 
ment, and, presenting his naked body, desired Hipponicus to 
scourge and chastise him as he pleased. Upon this Hipponicus 
forgot all his resentment, and not only pardoned him, but 
soon after gave him his daughter Hipparete in marriage. . . . 

Hipparete was a virtuous and dutiful wife, but, at last, 
growing impatient at the outrages done to her by her hus- 
band . . . she departed from him and retired to her brother's 
house. Alcibiades seemed not at all concerned at this, and 
Hved on still in the same luxury. Now the law required that 
a wife should deliver to the archon in person, and not by proxy, 
the instrument by which she claimed a divorce. When, in 
obedience to this law, Hipparete presented herself before the 
archon, Alcibiades came in, caught her up, and carried her home 
through the market place, no one daring to oppose him or to 
take her from him. She continued with him till her death, 
which happened not long after, when Alcibiades had gone to 
Ephesus.^ Nor is this violence to be thought so very serious 
or unmanly. For the law, in making her who desires to be 
divorced appear in public, seems to design to give her husband 
an opportunity of treating with her, and of endeavoring to 
retain her. 

Alcibiades had a dog which cost him seventy minas.^ It 
was a large animal and very handsome. His tail, which was his 
principal ornament, Alcibiades caused to be cut off. When 
some friends of Alcibiades told him that all Athens was sorry 
for the dog, and cried out upon him for this action, he laughed, 
and said, "Just what I wanted has happened, then. I wished 
the Athenians to talk about this, that they might not say some- 
thing worse of me." 

'One of the twelve Ionian cities of Asia Minor. * About $1260. 



I04 ALCIBIADES THE ATHENIAN 

It is said that the first time he came into the Assembly was 
upon the occasion of a gift of money, which he made to the 
people. This was not done, however, by design. As he passed 
along, he heard a shout, and inquiring the cause, and having 
learned that there was a donative being given to the people, 
he went in among them and gave money also. The multitude 
thereupon applauded him, and shouted. Alcibiades was so 
transported at this applause that he forgot a quail which he 
had under his robe, and the bird, being frightened with the 
noise, flew off. Upon this the people made louder acclama- 
tions than before, and many of them started up to pursue the 
bird. One Antiochus, a pilot, caught it and restored it to him, 
for which action he was ever after a favorite with Alcibiades. 

He had great advantages for entering pubhc Hfe. His noble 
birth, his riches, the personal courage he had shown in various 
battles, and the multitude of his friends and dependents, threw 
open, so to say, folding doors for his admittance. But he did 
not consent to let his power with the people rest on any thing 
except his own gift of eloquence. That he was a master in 
the art of speaking, the comic poets bear him witness. And 
the most eloquent of public speakers,^ in his oration against 
Midias, grants that Alcibiades, among other perfections, was 
a most accompUshed orator. If, however, we give credit to 
Theophrastus,^ who of all philosophers was the most curious 
inquirer, and the greatest lover of history, we are to understand 
that Alcibiades had the highest capacity for discerning what 
was the right thing to be said for any purpose, and on any 
occasion. Aiming, however, not only at saying what was re- 
quired, but also at saying it well ... he would often pause 
in the middle of his discourse for want of the apt word, and 
would be silent and stop till he could recollect himself, and had 
considered what to say. 

His expenses in horses kept for the public games, and in the 
number of his chariots, was a matter of common observation. 

1 Demosthenes, the famous Athenian orator. 

2 A Greek scientist and philosopher (about 372-287 b. c). 



PUBLIC LIFE 105 

Never did anyone but he, either private person or king, send 
seven chariots to the Olympic games. And to have carried 
away at once the first, the second, and the fourth prize, as 
Thucydides says, or the third, as another relates it, outdoes 
every distinction that ever was known of that kind. ... 

But with all these words and deeds ... he intermingled 
exorbitant luxury and wantonness in his eating, drinking, and 
dissolute Hving. He wore long purple robes which dragged 
after him as he went through the market place. He even 
caused the planks of his galley to be cut away, so that he might 
he the softer, his bed not being placed on the boards, but hang- 
ing upon girths. His shield, again, which was richly gilded, 
had not the usual ensigns of the Athenians, but a painted Cupid, 
holding a thunderbolt in his hand. 

The sight of all this luxury made the people of good repute 
in the city feel disgust and abhorrence. They had appre- 
hension also, at his free-living, and his contempt of law, as things 
monstrous in themselves, and indicating designs of usurpation. 
Aristophanes ^ has well expressed the people's feeling toward 
him: 

" They love, they hate, but cannot live without him." 

And still more strongly, under a figurative expression, 

"Best rear no lion in your state, 'tis true; 
But treat him like a lion if you do." 

The truth is that his liberalities, his public shows, and other 
gifts to the people . . . the glory of his ancestors, the force of 
his eloquence, the grace of his person, his strength of body, 
joined with his great courage and knowledge in miUtary affairs, 
prevailed upon the Athenians to endure patiently his excesses, 
and to indulge many things to him. . . . For example, he kept 
Agatharcus, the painter, a prisoner till he had painted his whole 
house, but then dismissed him with a reward. He publicly 
struck Taureas, who exhibited certain shows in opposition to 

' The famous comic dramatist of Athens (about 448-385 b. c). 



io6 ALCIBIADES THE ATHENIAN 

him and contended with him for the prize. . . . Once, when 
Alcibiades succeeded well in an oration which he made, and 
the whole Assembly attended upon him to do him honor, Timon 
the misanthrope ^ did not pass slightly by him, or avoid him, 
as he did others, but purposely met him. Taking him by the 
hand, Timon said, " Go on boldly, my son, and increase in credit 
with the people, for thou wilt one day bring them calamities 
enough." Some that were present laughed at the saying, and 
some reviled Timon; but there were others upon whom it 
made a deep impression; so various was the judgment which 
was made of him, and so irregular his own character. 

The subsequent career of Alcibiades fully justified 
Timon's forebodings. The famous expedition against Syra- 
cuse, which ended in such complete disaster to Athens, was 
undertaken largely by reason of the representations of Alci- 
biades. ^ Again, when his enemies sought to bring him to 
trial for his alleged misdoings, Alcibiades took refuge with 
the Spartans, "assuring them that he would make amends 
by his future services for all the mischief he had done them 
while he was still their foe. ... At his very first coming 
he succeeded in inducing them to send aid to the Syra- 
cusans; and so aroused and excited them, that they forth- 
with dispatched Gylippus to crush the forces which the 
Athenians had in Sicily." ^ Upon the collapse of the Si- 
cilian expedition (413 B.C.), Alcibiades, in cooperation with 
the Spartan generals, was able to arouse almost all the 
Ionian cities into revolt against Athens. Although the 
Athenians afterwards recalled their former favorite and 
gave him the command of their fleet, Alcibiades could 
never undo the damage he had inflicted upon his native 
city. The close of the Peloponnesian War found him a 

^ An Athenian who, soured by his disappointments and the ingratitude 
of his friends, had retired from the world. 
2 See page 91. ' See page 93. 



PUBLIC LIFE 1-07 

fugitive in Asia Minor where by Spartan orders he was 
treacherously assassinated (404 b. c). ''Those who were 
sent to kill him had not courage enough to enter the house, 
but surrounded it first, and set it on fire. Alcibiades, as 
soon as he perceived it, getting together great quantities 
of clothes and furniture, threw them upon the fire to choke 
it, and, having wrapped his cloak about his left arm, and 
holding his naked sword in his right, he cast himself into 
the middle of the fire, and escaped securely through it 
before his clothes were burnt. The barbarians, as soon 
as they saw him, retreated, and none of them dared to en- 
gage with him, but, standing at a distance, they slew him 
with their darts and arrows." ^ 

^ Plutarch, Alcibiades, 39. 



CHAPTER X 
THE EXPEDITION OF THE TEN THOUSAND i 

Antiquity has bequeathed to us few books more inter- 
esting than the Anabasis by the Athenian historian, Xen- 
ophon.^ It is the story of that memorable expedition in 
the course of which an army of ten thousand Greeks pene- 
trated to the very heart of the Persian Empire, overcame 
their treacherous and watchful foes, and returned by a 
long and toilsome march to safety in Greek lands. This 
, ;;ory is told by one who accompanied the army from 
beginning to end; at first as the friend and guest of the 
Greek generals, later as the moving spirit among the 
soldiers and the real leader of the retreat. 

43. The March to the Euphrates ^ 

Cyrus the Younger, so called to distinguish him from 
Cyrus the Great, was a brother of Artaxerxes,'* king of 
Persia. From his province of Asia Minor ^ he plotted 
rebellion against King Artaxerxes and raised a great army 
with which to invade Persia. Besides a multitude of sol- 
diers gathered from his satrapy, Cyrus enHsted a formid- 
able body of Greek mercenaries. Many of them were 

^ Xenophon, Anabasis. The Works of Xenophon, translated by H. G. 
Dakyns. 4 vols. London, 1890-1897. IMacmillan and Co. 

^ See page 63. 

' Xenophon, Anabasis, i, 5. 

* Artaxerxes II (404-359 b. c). 

^ His government extended over the three important districts of Lydia, 
Phrygia, and Cappadocia. 



THE MARCH TO THE EUPHRATES 109 

Spartan hoplites, now freed from service by the close of 
the Peloponnesian War. When all was ready, the expe- 
dition moved out from Sardis in March, 401 b. c. The 
Greeks believed that they were being led against a certain 
Tissaphernes ^ with whom Cyrus was then at war. It 
was not until the soldiers reached Thapsacus on the 
Euphrates (July, 401 B.C.) that they learned the real object 
of the expedition. Having crossed to the left bank of the 
Euphrates, the army marched through a desert country 
toward Babylon. 

. . . Once they found themselves involved in a narrow way, 
where the deep clay presented an obstacle to the progress of 
their wagons. Cyrus, with the nobles about him, halted to 
superintend the operation. He gave orders to take a body of 
barbarians who should help in extricating the wagons. A^ 
they seemed to be slow about the business, he turned round 
angrily to the Persian nobles and bade them lend a hand to 
force the wagons out. Then, if ever, what makes up one branch 
of good discipline was to be witnessed. Each of those addressed, 
just where he chanced to be standing, threw off his purple cloak, 
and flung himself into the work with as much eagerness as if 
it had been a charge for victory. Down a steep hill side they 
flew, with their costly tunics and embroidered trousers — 
some with the circlets round their necks and bracelets on their 
arms. In an instant, they sprang into the miry clay, and in 
less time than one could have imagined, they brought the wagons 
safe on solid ground. . . . 

Another incident related by Xenophon belongs to this 
period of the desert march. 

Some dispute or other here occurred between the soldiers 
of Menon and Clearchus,- in which Clearchus sentenced one 

* Satrap of Caria and Ionia. 

2 Menon and Clearchus were two of the five Greek generals. 



no THE EXPEDITION OF THE TEN THOUSAND 

of Menon's men, as the delinquent, and had him flogged. The 
man went back to his own troops and told them. Hearing 
what had been done to their comrade, his fellows fretted and 
fumed, and were highly incensed against Clearchus. The 
same day Clearchus visited the passage of the river, and after 
inspecting the market there, was returning with a few followers, 
on horseback, to his tent, and had to pass through Menon's 
quarters. Cyrus had not yet come up, but was riding along 
in the same direction. One of Menon's men, who was sphtting 
wood, caught sight of Clearchus as he rode past, and aimed a 
blow at him with his axe. The blow took no effect; when 
another hurled a stone at him, and a third, and then several, 
with shouts and hisses. Clearchus made a rapid retreat to his 
own troops, and at once ordered them to get under arms. He 
bade his hoplites remain in position with their shields resting 
against their knees, while he, at the head of his Thracians and 
horsemen, of which he had more than forty in his army . . . 
advanced against Menon's soldiers. The latter, with Menon 
himself, were panic-stricken, and ran to seize their arms. Some 
even stood riveted to the spot, in perplexity at the occurrence. 
Just then Proxenus came up from behind, as chance would 
have it, with his division of hoplites. Without a moment's 
hesitation he marched into the open space between the rival 
parties, and grounded arms; then he fell to begging Clearchus 
to desist. The latter was not too well pleased to hear his 
trouble mildly spoken of, when he had barely escaped being 
stoned to death; and he bade Proxenus retire and leave the 
intervening space open. At this juncture Cyrus arrived and 
inquired what was happening. There was no time for hesita- 
tion. With his javelins firmly grasped in his hands and escorted 
by some of his faithful bodyguard, he galloped up and exclaimed, 
"Clearchus, Proxenus, and you other Greeks yonder, you know 
not what you do. As surely as you come to blows with one 
another, our fate is sealed — this very day I shall be cut to 
pieces, and so will you soon after. Let our fortunes once take 
an evil turn, and these barbarians whom you see around will be 



THE DEATH OF CYRUS iii 

worse foes to us than those who are at present serving with the 
king." At these words Clearchus came to his senses. Both 
parties paused from battle and retired to their quarters. Order 
reigned. 

44. The Death of Cyrus ' 

At Cunaxa, a little village about fifty miles northwest of 
Babylon, Cyrus and his army encountered the enormous 
host of the Persian king. The Greek soldiers made short 
work of the Orientals posted against them. But the 
battle was not yet won. 

. . . Cyrus, seeing the Greeks conquering . . . and in hot 
pursuit, was well content. But in spite of his joy and the salu- 
tations offered him at that moment by those about him, as 
though he was already king, he was not led away to join in 
the pursuit. Keeping his scjuadron of six hundred horsemen 
in close order, he waited and watched to see what the king 
himself would do. The king, he knew, held the center of the 
Persian army. Indeed, it is the fashion for the Asiatic monarch / 
to occupy that position during action. For this there is a 
twofold reason: he holds the safest place, with his troops on 
either side of him, while, if he has occasion to dispatch any 
necessary order along the lines, his troops will receive the 
message in half the time. The king, accordingly, on this occa- 
sion held the center of his army, but for all that, he was outside 
Cyrus' left wing. Seeing that no one offered him battle in 
front. . . the king wheeled as if to encircle the enemy. It 
was then that Cyrus, in apprehension lest the king might get 
round to the rear and cut to pieces the Greek soldiers, charged 
to meet him. Attacking with his six hundred, he mastered 
the Hne of troops in front of the king, and put to flight the six 
thousand, cutting down, with his own hand, their commander. 

But as soon as the rout commenced, Cyrus' own six hundred 
themselves, in the ardor of pursuit, were scattered, with the 
^ Xcnophon, Anabasis, i, S-9. 



112 THE EXPEDITION OF THE TEN THOUSAND 

exception of a handful who remained with Cyrus himself. Left 
alone with these, he caught sight of the king and the close 
throng about him. Unable longer to contain himself, with a cry, 
''I see the man," he rushed at the king and dealt a blow at his 
chest, wounding him through the corselet. This is according 
to the statement of Ctesias ^ the surgeon, who further states 
that he himself healed the wound. As Cyrus delivered the 
blow, some one struck him under the eye wth a javelin. 
. . . Cyrus fell, and eight of his bravest companions lay on the 
top of him. The story goes that Artapates, the trustiest squire 
among his wand-bearers, when he saw that Cyrus had fallen 
to the ground, leaped from his horse and threw his arms about 
him. Then, as one account says, the king bade one slay him 
as a worthy victim to his brother: others say that Artapates 
drew his scimitar and slew himself with his own hand. .... 

So died Cyrus; a man the kingliest and most worthy to 
rule of all the Persians who have lived since the elder Cyrus,^ 
according to the testimony of all who are reputed to have 
known him intimately. . . . 

45. The March to the Black Sea ' 

The death of Cyrus and the dispersal of his Oriental 
troops placed the Greeks in a position of great peril. They 
were fifteen hundred miles from home, without provi- 
sions, and beset by foes on every side. To add to their 
troubles, the Greek generals were treacherously entrapped 
by the Persians and slain. Acting on Xenophon's advice 
the soldiers chose new generals and began the difficult 
retreat from Assyria to the Euxine (October, 401 B.C.). 
Reaching the mountains of Armenia, the Greeks found the 
warlike inhabitants even more dangerous enemies than 
the Persians. 

^ A Greek who lived many years at the Persian court as the royal physi- 
cian. He wrote a history of Persia to the year 399 b. c. 
* Cyrus the Great. ' Xenophon, Anabasis, iv, 5, 7-8. 



THE MARCH TO THE BLACK SEA 113 

. . . The Greeks now marched through Armenia three 
desert stages — fifteen parasangs ^ — to the river Euphrates, 
and crossed it in water up to the waist. The sources of the 
river were reported to be at no great distance. From this 
place they marched through deep snow over a flat country. 
The last of these marches was trying, with the north wind blow- 
ing in their teeth, drying up everything and benumbing the 
men. Here one of the seers suggested to them to do a sacrifice 
to Boreas,^ and sacrifice was done. The effect was obvious to 
all in the diminished fierceness of the blast. But there was 
six feet of snow, so that many of the baggage animals and slaves 
were lost, and about thirty of the men themselves. 

They spent the whole night in kindhng fires, for fortunately 
there was no dearth of wood at the halting-place. Only those 
who came late into camp had no wood. Accordingly, those 
who had arrived first and had kindled fires would not 
allow these late-comers near their fires, unless they would in 
return give a share of their corn or of any other food they 
might have. Here, then, a general exchange of goods was set 
up. Where the fire was kindled, the snow melted, and great 
trenches formed themselves down to the bare earth, and it 
was possible to measure the depth of the snow. 
' Leaving these quarters, they marched the whole of the next 
day over snow, and many of the men were afflicted with " bouli- 
mia" or hunger-faintness. Xenophon, who was guarding the 
rear, came upon some men who had dropped down. He did not 
know what ailed them; but some one who was experienced in 
such matters suggested to him that they had evidently got 
"boulimia," and that if they could have something to eat, they 
would revive. Then Xenophon went the round of the baggage 
train, and laying an embargo on any eatables he could see, 
doled out with his own hands, or sent off other able-bodied 
agents to distribute to the sufferers. The latter, as soon as they 

1 That is, a three days' journey of about 50 miles. The parasang, a 
Persian measure of distance, was equal to about 3^ miles. 

* The north wind. At Athens there was a temple dedicated to Boreas. 



114 THE EXPEDITION OF THE TEN THOUSAND 

had taken a mouthful, got on their legs again and continued 
the march. . . . 

On the heels of the army hung perpetually bands of the 
enemy, snatching away disabled baggage animals and fighting 
with each other over the carcases. And in its track not seldom 
were left to their fate disabled soldiers, struck down with snow- 
blindness or with toes mortified by frostbite. As for the eyes, 
it was some alleviation against the snow to march with some- 
thing black before them. For the feet, the only remedy was 
to keep in motion without stopping an instant, and to take off 
the sandals at night. If they went to sleep with the sandals 
on, the thong worked into the feet, and the sandals were frozen 
fast to them. This was partly due to the fact that, since their 
old sandals had failed, they wore untanned brogues made of 
newly-flayed ox-hides. 

It was owing to some such dire necessity that a party of men 
fell out and were left behind. Seeing a black-looking patch 
of ground where the snow had evidently disappeared, they 
conjectured it must have been melted. This was actually so, 
owing to a spring of some sort which was to be seen steaming 
up in a dell close by. To this spot they turned aside and sat 
down, and were loth to go a step farther. But Xenophon, 
with his rearguard, perceived them, and begged and implored 
them by all manner of means not to lag behind, telling them 
that the enemy were coming after them in large numbers ; and 
he ended by growing angry. They merely bade him put a 
knife to their throats; not one step farther w^ould they stir. 
Then it seemed best to frighten the pursuing enemy, if possible, 
and prevent their falling upon the invalids. It was already 
dusk, and the pursuers were advancing with much noise and 
hubbub, wrangling and disputing over their spoils. Then all of 
a sudden the rearguard, in the plenitude of health and strength, 
sprang up out of their lair and ran upon the enemy, while those 
weary ones bawled out as loud as their sick throats 
could sound, and dashed their spears against their shields. 
The enemy in terror hurled themselves through the snow 



THE MARCH TO THE BLACK SEA 115 

into the dell, and not one of them ever uttered a sound 
again. . . . 

After undergoing incredible hardships, the Greeks 
succeeded in capturing a native village where they obtained 
food and a temporary respite from the exertions of the 
march. 

Next they marched into the country of the Taochians five 
stages — thirty parasangs ^ — and provisions failed. For the 
Taochians lived in strong places, into which they had carried 
up all their stores. Now when the army arrived before one 
of these strong places — a mere fortress, without houses 
. . . Chirisophus attacked at once. When the first regiment 
fell back tired, a second advanced, and again a third, for it was 
impossible to surround the place in full force, as it was encircled 
by a river. Presently Xenophon came up with the rearguard, 
consisting of both light and heavy infantry, whereupon Chiri- 
sophus hailed him with the words, " You have come in the 
nick of time. We must take this place, for the troops have 
no provisions." 

Thereupon they consulted together. To Xenophon's in- 
quiry, "What is it that hinders our simply w^alking in?" 
Chirisophus replied, "There is just this one narrow approach 
which you see; but when we attempt to pass by it, they roll 
down volleys of stones from yonder overhanging crag. This 
is the state in which you find yourself, if you chance to be 
caught"; and he pointed to some poor fellows with their legs 
or ribs crushed to bits. "But when they have expended their 
ammunition," said Xenophon, "there is nothing else, is there, 
to hinder our passing? Certainly, except yonder handful of 
fellows, there is no one in front of us that we can see; and of 
them, only two or three apparently are armed. The distance 
to be traversed under fire is, as your eyes will tell you, about 
one hundred and fifty feet. Of this space the first hundred 
1 About 100 miles. 



ii6 THE EXPEDITION OF THE TEN THOUSAND 

feet are thickly covered with great pines at intervals; under 
cover of these, what harm can come to our men from a 
pelt of stones, flying or rolling? So then, there are only fifty 
feet left to cross, during a lull of stones." "Ay," said Chiriso- 
phus, "but with our first attempt to approach the bush a galling 
fire of stones commences." "The very thing we want," said 
the other, " for they will use up their ammunition all the quicker. 
But let us select a point from which we shall have only a brief 
space to run across, if we can, and from which it will be easier 
to get back, if we wish." 

Thereupon Chirisophus and Xenophon set out with Callim- 
achus, the captain in command of the officers of the rearguard 
that day. The rest of the captains remained out of danger. 
That done, the next step was for a party of about seventy men 
to get away under the trees, not in a body, but one by one, 
each person using his best precaution. Agasias and Aristony- 
mus, who were also officers of the rearguard, were posted as sup- 
ports outside the trees, for it was not possible for more than a 
single company to stand safely within the trees. Here CalUm- 
achus hit upon a pretty contrivance. He ran forward from 
the tree under which he was posted two or three paces, and as 
soon as the stones came whizzing, he retired easily, but at each 
excursion more than ten wagon-loads of rocks were expended. 
Agasias, seeing how Callimachus was amusing himself, and the 
whole army looking on as spectators, was seized with the fear 
that he might miss his chance of being first to run the gauntlet 
of the enemy's fire and get into the place. So, without a word 
of summons to his next neighbor, Aristonymus, or to anyone 
else, off he set on his own account, and passed the whole detach- 
ment. But Callimachus, seeing him tearing past, caught hold 
of his shield by the rim, and in the meantime Aristonymus ran 
ahead of both, and after him Eurylochus of Lusia. They were 
one and all aspirants for valor, and in that high pursuit, each 
was the eager rival of the rest. So in this strife of honor, the 
three of them took the fortress, and when they had once rushed 
it, not a stone more was hurled from overhead. 



THE MARCH TO THE BLACK SEA 117 

And here a terrible spectacle displayed itself: the women 
first cast their infants down the cHff, and then they cast them- 
selves after their fallen little ones, and the men Hkewise. In 
such a scene, JEneas, an officer, caught sight of a man with a 
fine dress about to throw himself over, and seized hold of him 
to stop him. But the other caught him in his arms, and both 
were gone in an instant headlong down the crags, and were 
killed. Out of this place the merest handful of human beings 
was taken prisoners, but cattle and asses in abundance and 
flocks of sheep. . . . 

And now the Greeks marched rapidly through the ter- 
ritories of barbarian tribes and approached the northern 
borders of Armenia. They were fortunate in getting a 
guide who promised to lead them to a summit whence 
they could behold the sea. 

On the fifth day they reached the mountain, the name of 
which was Theches. No sooner had the men in advance 
ascended it and caught sight of the sea than a great cry arose. 
Xenophon, with the rearguard, hearing the sound, conjectured 
that another set of enemies must surely be attacking in front; 
for they were followed by the inhabitants of the country. . . . 

But as the shout became louder and nearer, and those who 
from time to time came up, began racing at the top of their 
speed toward the shouter, and the shouting continually recom- 
menced with yet greater volume as the numbers increased, 
Xenophon felt certain that something extraordinary must have 
happened. So he mounted his horse, and taking with him Lycius 
and the cavalry, he galloped to the rescue. Presently they 
could hear the soldiers shouting and passing on the joyful 
word, The sea ! the sea ! 

Thereupon they began running, rearguard and all, and the 
baggage animals and horses came galloping up. But when 
they had reached the summit, then indeed they fell to embrac- 
ing one another — generals and officers and men — and the 



ii8 THE EXPEDITION OF THE TEN THOUSAND 

tears trickled down their cheeks. And on a sudden . . . the 
soldiers began bringing stones and erecting a great cairn. On 
this they dedicated a large number of untanned skins, staves, and 
captured wicker shields. . . . After this the Greeks dismissed 
the guide with a present raised from the common store, to wit, 
a horse, a silver bowl, a Persian dress, and ten darics.^ What 
he most begged to have were their rings, and of these he 
got several from the soldiers. After pointing out to them a 
village where they would find quarters, and the road by which 
they would proceed toward the land of the Macrones, as even- 
ing fell, he turned his back upon them and was gone. 

From the land of the Macrones through the territory 
of the Colchians it was but a short journey to the sea. 

. . . From this place they marched on two stages — seven 
parasangs — and reached the sea at Trapezus, a populous 
Greek city on the Euxine. . . . Here they halted about 
thirty days in the villages of the Colchians, which they used 
as a base of operations to ravage the whole territory of Colchis. 
The men of Trapezus supplied the army with a market, enter- 
tained them, and gave them oxen and wheat and wine. Further, 
they negotiated with them in behalf of their neighbors, the 
Colchians, and from this folk also came gifts of hospitality in 
the shape of cattle. And now the Greeks made preparation 
for the sacrifice which they had vowed, and a sufficient number 
of cattle came in for them to offer thank-offerings for safe 
guidance to Zeus the Savior, and to Heracles,^ and to the 
other gods, according to their vows. They instituted also a 
gymnastic contest on the mountain side, just where they were 
quartered, and chose Dracontius, a Spartan. . . to superin- 
tend the course and to be president of the games. 

As soon as the sacrifices were ended, they handed over the 

^ $54.00. A daric was a Persian gold coin worth about $5.40. 
^ The journeys of Heracles were believed to give him special sympathy 
with wanderers. 



THE MARCH TO THE BLACK SEA 119 

hides of the beasts to Dracontius, and bade him lead the way 
to his racecourse. He merely waved his hand and pointed 
to where they were standing, and said, "There, this ridge is 
just the place for running, anywhere, everywhere." "But 
how," it was asked, "will we manage to wrestle on the hard 
scrubby ground?" "Oh! worse knocks for those who are 
thrown," the president replied. There was a mile race for 
boys, the majority being captive lads; and for the long race 
more than sixty Cretans competed; there were wrestUng, boxing, 
and the pancratium} Altogether it was a beautiful spectacle. 
. . . There was horse-racing, also. The riders had to gallop 
down a steep incline to the sea, and then turn and come up again 
to the altar. On the descent more than half rolled head over 
heels, and then back they came toiling up the tremendous 
steep, scarcely out of a walking pace. Loud were the shouts, 
the laughter, and the cheers. 

With the arrival at Trapezus (February, 400 b. c.) the 
most difficult part of the return of the Ten Thousand was 
accomplished. The Greeks were now on Greek soil and 
among Greek people. Here they rested a month and 
then proceeded, partly by land, partly by sea, to the west- 
ern extremity of the Euxine. The remnant of the force, 
after an incursion into Thrace, returned to Asia Minor 
and took service with the Spartans, then at war with Per- 
sia (March, 399 b. c). After just two years of mingled 
peril and privation the soldiers of the Ten Thousand had 
reached their journey's end. 

^ A severe exercise in which wrestling and boxing were combined. 



CHAPTER XI 
THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF SOCRATES i 

While Xenophon was still absent in Asia with the Ten 
Thousand Greeks, his master and friend, the philosopher 
Socrates, suffered death at Athens as a person dangerous 
to the state. Socrates, who Hved during the exciting 
epoch of the Peloponnesian War, gave himself up to the 
study of moral problems. His grotesque and even repul- 
sive features contrasted strangely with the noble tone and 
elevated character of his doctrines. One of his pupils 
was Plato, a wealthy noble who abandoned a public career 
for the delights of philosophy. Plato's Dialogues furnish 
us with an attractive picture of Socrates, both as a thinker 
and as a man. These works are really essays on philo- 
sophical themes, but are cast in the form of question and 
answer which Socrates had employed. In nearly all the 
dialogues, Socrates is a conspicuous figure; in some of 
them, indeed, he is throughout the only speaker. As we 
read these matchless productions of Plato's genius, there 
rises before our eyes the figure of that poor and homely 
Athenian who spent all his days in an unwearied search 
for truth, and who became, at the last, a willing martyr 
to the cause of truth. 

46. Socrates Accused ^ 

The scene of the following conversation is the porch of 
the King Archon at Athens. Before this official, impeach- 

* The Dialogues of Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett. 2d edition. 
5 vols. Oxford, 1875. Clarendon Press. ^ Plato, Euthyphro, 1-3. 



SOCRATES ACCUSED 121 

ments for impiety and the answers of the accused were 
laid. Here Socrates and Euthyphro meet, Socrates hav- 
ing just been indicted, and Euthyphro being engaged in 
indicting his father for the murder of a laboring man. 

Euth. Why have you left the Lyceum/ Socrates? and what 
are you doing in the porch of the King Archon? Surely you 
cannot be engaged in an action before the king, as I am. 

Soc. Not in an action, Euthyphro; impeachment is the 
word which the Athenians use. 

Euth. What! I suppose that some one has been prosecuting 
you, for I cannot believe that you are the prosecutor of another. 

Soc. Certainly not. 

Euth. Then some one else has been prosecuting you. 

Soc. Yes. 

Euth. And who is he? 

Soc. A young man who is little known, Euth>^hro; and I 
hardly know him: his name is Meletus. Perhaps you may 
remember his appearance; he has a beak, and long straight 
hair, and a beard which is ill grown. 

Euth. No, I do not remember him, Socrates. And what is 
the charge which he brings against you? 

Soc. What is the charge? Well, a very serious charge, 
which shows a good deal of character in the young man, and for 
which he is certainly not to be despised. He says he knows 
how the youth are corrupted and who are their corrupters. I 
fancy that he must be a wise man, and seeing that I am any- 
thing but a wise man, he has found me out, and is going to 
accuse me of corrupting his young friends. And of this our 
mother the state is to be the judge. Of all our political men he 
is the only one who seems to me to begin in the right way, with 
the cultivation of virtue in youth. He is a good husbandman, 
and takes care of the shoots first, and clears away us who are 
the destroyers of them. That is the first step ; he will afterwards 

1 A popular resort containing a gymnasium and gardens, on the banks of 
the Ihssus. 



12 2 THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF SOCRATES 

attend to the older branches. If he goes on as he has begun, 
he will be a very great public benefactor. 

Euth. I hope that he may; but I rather fear, Socrates, 
that the reverse will turn out to be the truth. My opinion is 
that in attacking yx)U he is simply aiming a blow at the state 
in a sacred place. But in what way does he say that you corrupt 
the young? 

Soc. He brings a remarkable accusation against me, which 
at first hearing excites surprise. He says that I make new 
gods and deny the existence of old ones; this is the ground of 
his indictment. 

Euth. I understand, Socrates. ... He knows that such 
a charge is readily received, for the world is always jealous of 
novelties in religion. And I know that when I myself speak 
in the Assembly about divine things, and foretell the future to 
them, they laugh at me as a madman; and yet every word 
that I say is true. But they are jealous of all of us. I suppose 
that we must be brave and not mind them. 

Soc. Their laughter, friend Euthyphro, is not a matter 
of much consequence. For a man may be thought wise; 
but the Athenians, I suspect, do not care much about this, 
until he begins to make other men wise; and then for some 
reason or other, perhaps, as you say, from jealousy, they 
are angry. 

Euth. I have no desire to try conclusions with them about 
this. 

Soc. I dare say that you don't make yourself common, 
and are not apt to impart your wisdom. But I have a benevo- 
lent habit of pouring out myself to everybody, and would even 
pay for a listener, and I am afraid that the Athenians know 
this; and therefore, as I was saying, if the Athenians would 
only laugh at me as you say that they laugh at you, the time 
might pass gayly enough in the court. But perhaps they may 
be in earnest, and then what the end will be you soothsayers 
only can predict. 

Euth. I believe that the affair will end in nothing, Socrates, 



TRIAL OF SOCRATES 123 

and that you will win your cause; and I think that I shall win 
mine. 

47. Trial of Socrates 1 

The "affair," alas, did not "end in nothing." In the 
year 399 b. c, Socrates was condemned to death on the 
charge which Meletus had' brought against him. Xeno- 
phon tells us that Socrates might easily have obtained a 
verdict in his favor had he been willing to approach his 
judges with prayers and flattery. Socrates would not 
even prepare any defense. However, in one of his 
dialogues, Plato gives a speech purported to have been 
deHvered by Socrates to the judges after conviction. 

. . . You think that I was convicted because I had no words 
of the sort that would have procured my acquittal — I mean, 
if I had thought fit to leave nothing undone or unsaid. . . . But 
I had not the boldness or impudence or inclination to address 
you as you would have liked me to address you, weeping 
and wailing and lamenting, and saying and doing many things 
which you have been accustomed to hear from others, and 
which, as I maintain, are unworthy of me. I thought at the 
time that I ought not to do anything common or mean when 
in danger; or do I now repent of the manner of my defense. 
I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak 
in your manner and live. For neither in war nor yet at law 
ought I or any man to use every way of escaping death. . . . 
The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in 
avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death. 
I am old,^ and move slowly, and the slower runner has over- 
taken me, and my accusers are keen and quick, and the faster 
runner, who is unrighteousness, has overtaken them. . . . 

Let us reflect, and we shall see that there is great reason to 
hope that death is a good. For one of two things is true — • 

^ Plato, Apology, 2g, 32-33. 

* Socrates at this time was seventy years of age. 



124 THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF SOCRATES 

either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness; 
or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from 
this world to another. Now if you suppose that there is no 
consciousness, but a sleep like the sleep of him who is undis- 
turbed even by dreams, death will be an unspeakable gain. 
For if a person were to select the night in which his sleep was 
undisturbed even by dreams, and were to compare with it 
all the other days and nights of his life, and then were to tell 
us how many days and nights he had passed in the course of 
his hfe better and more pleasantly than this one, I think that 
any man would find them easy to count, when compared with 
the others. Now if death is like this, I say that to die is gain; 
for eternity is then but a single night. 

But if death is the journey to another place, and there, as 
men say, all the dead are, what good, O my friends and judges, 
can be greater than this? If indeed when the pilgrim arrives 
in the world below, he is delivered from the professors of justice 
in this world, and finds the true judges who are said to give 
judgment there, Minos and Rhadamanthus and ^acus and 
Triptolemus, and other sons of God who were righteous in their 
own life, that pilgrimage will be worth making. . . . Above 
all, I shall then be able to continue my search into true and false 
knowledge; as in this world, so also in that; and I shall find 
out who is wise, and who pretends to be wise, and is not. . . . 
In another world they do not put a man to death for asking 
questions; assuredly not. For besides being happier in that 
world than in this, they will be immortal, if what is said is 
true. 

Wherefore, judges, be of good cheer about death, and know 
of a certainty that no evil can happen to a good man, either 
in life or after death. He and his are not neglected by the gods ; 
nor has my own approaching end happened by mere chance. 
But I see clearly that to die and be released was better for me ; 
and therefore the oracle gave no sign. For which reason, also, 
I am not angry with my accusers, or with those who have 
condemned me to death. They have done me no harm, 



SOCRATES IN PRISON 125 

although they did not mean to do me any good; and for this 
I may gently blame them. . . . 

48. Socrates in Prison^ 
Though condemned to death, Socrates is not to die at 
once. He must abide in prison until the arrival of a cer- 
tain sacred ship from the island of Delos. During this 
interval of waiting, when no legal execution could take 
place, his friend Crito visits him. Crito begs the philoso- 
pher to accept the money which his disciples are ready to 
give him and with it to bribe his jailers and escape. But 
Socrates is not to be persuaded. As a reply to Crito, he 
represents the Laws of his native city as making this 
speech to him. 

. . . "Listen then, Socrates, to us who have brought you up. 
Think not of life and children first, and of justice afterwards, 
but of justice first, that you may be justified before the princes 
of the world below. For neither will you nor any that belong 
to you be happier or holier or juster in this life, or happier in an- 
other, if you do as Crito bids. Now you depart in innocence, 
a sufferer and not a doer of evil ; a victim not of the laws but of 
men. But if you go forth, returning evil for evil, and injury 
for injury, breaking the covenants and agreements which you 
have made with us, and wronging those whom you ought least 
to wrong, that is to say, yourself, your friends, your country, 
and us, we shall be angry with you while you live. And our 
brethren, the Laws in the world below, will receive you as an 
enemy; for they will know that you have done your best to 
destroy us. Listen, then, to us, and not to Crito." 

Soc. This is the voice which I seem to hear murmuring in 
my ears, like the sound of the flute in the ears of the mystic; 
that voice, I say, is murmuring in my ears, and prevents me 
from hearing any other. And I know that anything more which 

^ Plato, Crito, 16-17. 



126 THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF SOCRATES 

you may say will be in vain. Yet speak, if you have anything 
to say. 

Cr. I have nothing to say, Socrates. 

Soc. Leave me then to follow whithersoever God leads. 

49. Death of Socrates i 

And now comes the story, so pathetic in its self-restraint, 
of Socrates' last hours. The philosopher has just con- 
cluded a long argument for the immortality of the soul. 

When he had done speaking, Crito said. And have you any 
commands for us, Socrates — anything to say about your 
children, or any other matter in which we can serve you? 

Nothing particular, he said, only, as I have always told you, 
I would have you look to yourselves; that is a service which 
you may be always doing to me and mine as well as to your- 
selves. And you need not make professions; for if you take 
no thought for yourselves, and walk not according to the pre- 
cepts which I have given you, not now for the first time, the 
warmth of your professions will be of no avail. 

We will do our best, said Crito. But in what way would you 
have us bury you? 

In any way that you like; only you must get hold of me 
and take care that I do not walk away from you. Then he 
turned to us, and added with a smile, I cannot make Crito 
believe that I am the same Socrates who has been talking and 
conducting the argument. He fancies that I am the other 
Socrates whom he will soon see, a dead body, and he asks. How 
shall he bury me? And though I have spoken many words in 
the endeavor to show that when I have drunk the poison I shall 
leave you and go to the joys of the blessed — these words of 
mine, with which I have comforted you and myself, have had, 
as I perceive, no effect upon Crito. ... Be of good cheer, 
my dear Crito, and say that you are burying my body only, 
and do with that as is usual, and as you think best. . . . 
1 Plato, PhcBdo, 64, 66. 



DEATH OF SOCRATES 127 

Crito then made a sign to the servant, who was standing by. 
He went out, and having been absent for some time, returned 
with the jailer carrying the cup of poison. Socrates said. 
You, my good friend, who are experienced in these matters, 
shall give me directions how I am to proceed. The man an- 
swered, You have only to walk about until your legs are heavy, 
and then to lie down, and the poison will act. At the same time 
he handed the cup to Socrates, who took it in the easiest and 
gentlest manner, without the least fear or change of color or 
feature. Looking at the man with all his eyes, Echecrates,^ as 
his manner was, Socrates said, What do you say about making 
a libation out of this cup to any god? May I, or not? The 
man answered. We only prepare, Socrates, just so much as 
we deem enough. I understand, he said, but I may and must 
ask the gods to prosper my journey from this to that other world 
— even so — and so be it according to my prayer. Then hold- 
ing the cup to his lips, quite readily and cheerfully he drank 
off the poison. 

Hitherto most of us had been able to control our sorrow ; but 
now when we saw him drinking, and saw too that he had finished 
the draught, we could no longer forbear, and in spite of myself 
my own tears were flowing fast; so that I covered my face, 
and wept over myself. For certainly I was not weeping over 
him, but at the thought of my own calamity in having lost such 
a friend. Nor was I the first, for Crito, when he found himself 
unable to restrain his tears, had got up and moved away, and 
I followed; and at that moment ApoUodorus, who had been 
weeping all the time, broke out in a loud and passionate cry 
which made cowards of us all. Socrates alone retained his 
calmness. What is this strange outcry? he said. I sent away 
the women mainly in order that they might not offend in this 
way, for I have heard that a man should die in peace. Be 
quiet then, and have patience. 

When we heard that we were ashamed, and refrained our 

^ Throughout the dialogue Plato addresses his friend Echecrates, to whom 
he is relating the circumstances of the philosopher's death. 



128 THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF SOCRATES 

tears; and he walked about until, as he said, his legs began to 
fail, and then he lay on his back, according to the directions, 
and the man who gave him the poison now and then looked 
at his feet and legs. After a time the man pressed his foot 
hard, and asked him if he could feel; and he said, No; and 
then his leg, and so upward and upward, and showed us that 
he was cold and stiff. And he felt them himself, and said. 
When the poison reaches the heart, that will be the end. He 
was beginning to grow cold when he uncovered his face, for 
he had covered himself up, and said (they were his last words), 
Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius ^; will you remember to pay 
the debt? The debt shall be paid, said Crito; is there any- 
thing else? There was no answer to this question; but in a 
minute or two a movement was heard, and the attendants 
uncovered him; his eyes were set, and Crito closed his eyes 
and mouth. 

Such was the end, Echecrates, of our friend, whom I may 
truly call the wisest, justest, and best of all the men whom 
I have ever known. 

^ The Greek god of healing. 



CHAPTER XII 
DEMOSTHENES AND THE STRUGGLE AGAINST PHttlP ^ 

Greek history, during the half-century following the 
close of the Peloponnesian War, is a confused and tedious 
record of the efforts of the leading cities, Sparta, Thebes, 
Athens, and Corinth, to preserve or to recover a supremacy 
over their neighbors. In these endless struggles the Greek 
states wore themselves out. Torn by internal faction and 
distracted by local jealousies, they were to fall an easy 
victim to the ambitious designs of Phihp of Macedonia. 
We cannot think of Philip without thinking also of his 
great antagonist, the Athenian orator Demosthenes. To 
the task of maintaining the power and independence of 
Athens against Macedonia, Demosthenes devoted all 
his splendid talents and, in the end, his life itself. 
As the crafty Macedonian king gradually extended his 
power along the coast of Thrace and the peninsula of 
Chalcidice, Demosthenes saw with ever growing clearness 
how great a danger threatened the disunited cities of 
Greece. In several famous speeches {Philippics), delivered 
during the period 351-341 b. c, he exhausted all the re- 
sources of the orator's art in the endeavor to awaken his 
countrymen to their peril. 

50. The Third Philippic 2 

In 348 B. c. the peninsula of Chalcidice with its many 
flourishing cities fell into Philip's hands. Two years later 

' The Orations of Demosthenes, translated by C. R. Kennedy. 5 vols. 
London, 1876-1878. George Bell and Sons. 
* Demosthenes, Philippics, iii, 27-40. 



I30 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST PHILIP 

he interfered in the affairs of Phocis, a state of central 
Greece, and gained the place in the Amphictyonic Coun- 
cil which the Phocians had formerly occupied. The 
Macedonian monarch thus became one of the recognized 
powers in Greece proper. Demosthenes saw in this suc- 
cess the death knell of Greek independence unless Philip's 
further advance was instantly checked. In his Third 
Philippic (341 B. c.) he reviews the steady growth of the 
Macedonian power and summons all the cities of Greece 
to unite in alUance against the invader. 

That Philip from a mean and humble origin has grown 
mighty, that the Greeks are jealous and quarreling among 
themselves, that it was far more wonderful for him to rise from 
that insignificance, than it would now be, after so many acqui- 
sitions, to conquer what is left; these and similar matters, 
which I might dwell upon, I pass over. But I observe that all 
people, beginning with you, have conceded to him a right, 
which in former times has been the subject of contest in every 
Greek war. And what is this? The right of doing what he 
pleases, openly fleecing and pillaging the Greeks, one after 
another, attacking and enslaving their cities. You were at 
the head of the Greeks for seventy-three ^ years, the Spartans 
for twenty-nine,^ and the Thebans had some power in these 
latter times after the battle of Leuctra. Yet neither you, 
my countrymen, nor Spartans nor Thebans, were licensed 
by the Greeks to act as you pleased; far otherwise. When 
you, or rather the Athenians of that time, appeared to be 
dealing harshly with certain people, all the rest, even such as 
had no complaint against Athens, thought proper to side 
with the injured parties in a war against her. So, when the 
Spartans became masters and succeeded to your empire, on their 

1 From the conclusion of the Persian invasions to the end of the Pelopon- 
nesian War. 

* Reckoning from the battle of ^gospotami, 405 b. c, to the battle of 
Naxos, 376 B.C. 



THE THIRD PHILIPPIC 131 

attempting to encroach and make oppressive innovations, a 
general war was declared against them, even by such as had 
no cause of complaint. . . . 

Yet all the faults committed by the Spartans in those thirty 
years and by our ancestors in the seventy are less, men of 
Athens, than the wrongs which Philip in thirteen incomplete 
years has inflicted on the Greeks. Nay, they are scarcely a 
fraction of these, as may easily be shown in a few words. Olyn- 
thus ^ and Methone ^ and ApoUonia,^ and thirty-two cities on 
the borders of Thrace, I pass over. All these he has so cruelly 
destroyed, that a visitor could hardly tell if they were ever 
inhabited. Of the Phocians, so considerable a people extermi- 
nated,- I say nothing. But what is the condition of Thessaly? 
Has he not taken away her constitutions and her cities ? . . . . 
Are not the Euboean states governed now by despots, and 
that in an island near to Thebes and Athens? Does he not 
expressly write in his epistles, "I am at peace with those 
who are willing to obey me?" Nor does he write so and not 
act accordingly. He is gone to the Hellespont; he marched 
formerly against Ambracia; Elis, such an important city in 
the Peloponnesus, he possesses; he plotted lately to get Megara: 
neither Greek nor barbarian land contains the man's 
ambition. 

And we the Greek community, seeing and hearing this, 
instead of sending embassies to one another about it and express- 
ing indignation, are in such a miserable state, so intrenched in 
our separate towns, that to this day we can attempt nothing 
that interest or necessity requires. We cannot combine or 
form any association for succor and alliance. We look uncon- 
cernedly on the man's growing power, each resolving to enjoy 
the interval that another is destroyed in, not caring or striving 
for the salvation of Greece. Yet none can be ignorant that 
Philip, like some attack of fever or other disease, is coming 
even on those that yet seem very far removed. And you must 
be aware that whatever wrong the Greeks sustained from 

^ The cities of Chalcidice. ^ In the Second Sacred War. 



132 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST PHILIP 

Spartans or from us, was at least inflicted by genuine people 
of Greece. ... In regard to Philip and his conduct they feel 
not this, for he is no Greek and in no way akin to Greeks. . . . 
He is, in fact, a vile fellow of Macedonia from which a respect- 
able slave could not be purchased former ly.^ 

Under the eloquent leadership of Demosthenes the war 
party at Athens at length secured the upper hand. The 
final struggle could not be long delayed. In 338 b. c. 
the men of Athens and Thebes, now united in friendly 
alliance, met their common foe on the field of Chaeronea. 
Philip triumphed. Greece lay helpless and exhausted at 
the feet of her Macedonian overlord. 

51. Oration on the Crown ^ 

Two years after the fateful day of Chaeronea, on the 
motion of a certain Ctesiphon, a decree was passed by the 
Athenian Council that Demosthenes should receive a civic 
crown of gold and ivory in grateful recognition of his 
services to the state. This action was opposed as illegal 
by i^schines, himself a powerful orator, and long a politi- 
cal opponent of Demosthenes. For various reasons the 
trial was postponed until 330 b. c. Then all Athens gath- 
ered to the Assembly to hear the debate between the rival 
orators. The speech of ^Eschines, though nominally 
directed against Ctesiphon, was really a virulent attack 
upon Demosthenes and his entire public career. In reply, 
Demosthenes delivered his oration, On the Crown, a 
magnificent defense of his past poHcy and the greatest 
oratorical effort of antiquity. 

The past is with all the world given up ; no one even proposes 
to deliberate about it: the future it is, or the present, which 

1 Allowance for oratorical exaggeration must be made here. Philip 
was a Greek, and no barbarian. * Demosthenes, On ihe Crown, 192-208. 



ORATION ON THE CROWN 133 

demands the action of a counselor. At the tune, as it appeared, 
there were dangers impending, and dangers at hand. Mark 
the hne of my policy at that crisis; don't rail at the event. 
The end of all things is what the Deity pleases : his Hne of policy 
it is that shows the judgment of the statesman. Do not then 
impute it as a crime to me that Philip chanced to conquer in 
battle. That issue depended not on me, but on God. Prove 
that I did not adopt all measures that according to human calcu- 
lation were feasible ; that I did not honestly and diligently and 
with exertions beyond my strength carry them out; or that my 
enterprises were not honorable and worthy of the state and 
necessary. Show me this, and accuse me as soon as you like. 

But if the hurricane that visited us has been too powerful, 
not for us only, but for all Greece besides, what is the fair course? 
As if a merchant, after taking every precaution, and furnishing 
his vessel with everything that he thought would insure her 
safety, because subsequently he met with a storm and his tackle 
was strained or broken to pieces, should be charged with the 
shipwreck ! " Well, but I was not the pilot " — he might say — 
just as I was not the general. "Fortune was not under my 
control: all was under hers." 

Consider and reflect upon this. If, with the Thebans on 
our side, we were destined so to fare in the contest, what was 
to be expected, if we had never had them for allies, but they 
had joined Philip, as he used every effort of persuasion to make 
them do? And if, when the battle ^ was fought three days' 
march from Attica, such peril and alarm surrounded the city, 
what must we have expected, if the same disaster had happened 
in some part of our territory? . . . 

All this, at'such length, have I addressed to you, men of the 
jury, and to the outer circle of hearers; for, as to this contempt- 
ible fellow, a short and plain argument would suffice. If the 
future was revealed to you, ^schines, alone, when the state 
was deliberating on these proceedings, you ought to have 
forewarned us at the time. If you did not foresee it, you are 

1 Chasronea. 



134 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST PHILIP 

responsible for the same ignorance as the rest. Why then do 
you accuse me in this behalf, rather than I you? A better 
citizen have I been than you in respect to the matters of which 
I am speaking, inasmuch as I gave myself up to what seemed 
for the general good, not shrinking from any personal danger, 
or taking thought of any. You, on the contrary, neither sug- 
gested better measures (or mine would not have been adopted), 
nor lent any aid in the prosecuting of mine. Exactly what the 
basest person and worst enemy of the state would do, are you 
found to have done after the event. . . . Surely, the man who 
waited to found his reputation upon the misfortunes of the 
Greeks deserves rather to perish than to accuse another. . . . 
But since he insists so strongly on the event, I will even 
assert something of a paradox: and I beg and pray of you not 
to marvel at its boldness, but kindly to consider what I say. 
If then the results had been foreknown to all, if all had fore- 
seen them . . . not even then should the commonwealth have 
abandoned her design, if she had any regard for glory, or ancestry, 
or futurity. . . . For in former times our country has never 
preferred an ignominious security to the battle for honor. 
What Greek or what barbarian is ignorant that, by the The- 
bans, or by the Spartans who were in power before them, or 
by the Persian king, permission would thankfully and gladly 
have been given to our commonwealth, to take what she pleased 
and hold her own, provided she would accept foreign law and 
let a foreign state command in Greece? But, to the Athenians 
of that day, such conduct would not have been endurable. 
None could at any period of time persuade the commonwealth 
to attach herself in secure subjection to the powerful and unjust. 
Through every age has she persevered in a perilous struggle 
for precedency and honor and glory. . . . Never, never can you 
have done wrong, O Athenians, in undertaking the battle for 
the freedom and safety of all ! I swear it by your forefathers — 
those that met the peril at Marathon, those that took the field 
at Platasa, those in the sea fight at Salamis, and those a.t 
Artemisium, and many other brave men who repose in the 



ORATION ON THE CROWN 135 

public monuments, all of whom alike, as being worthy of the 
same honor, the country buried, not only the successful or 
victorious ! Justly ! For the duty of brave men has been done 
by all:- their fortune has been such as the Deity assigned to 
each. 

Athens was not false to her glorious past. Demosthenes 
won his case and received the coveted reward. yEschines, 
completely discredited, went into voluntary exile. The 
great orator was to enjoy one more signal triumph before 
his melancholy end. When tidings of Alexander's death 
reached Athens, that city, aided by many other states 
of Greece, broke out in sudden revolt against Macedonia 
(323 B. c). At this time Demosthenes was himself in 
exile, under condemnation on a charge of bribery. Now, 
however, the Athenians recalled him, as in earher days 
they had recalled Alcibiades,^ and paid out of the public 
treasury the fine of fifty talents which had been 
assessed upon him. Demosthenes once more became the 
center of Athenian resistance to Macedonia. But the 
revolt was soon suppressed. Antipater, the Macedonian 
general, demanded, as the price of peace, the surrender of 
Demosthenes and his fellow orators who had fanned the 
flame of insurrection. "They dispersed themselves, fly- 
ing, some to one place, some to another; and Antipater 
sent about his soldiers into all quarters to apprehend 
them. Archias was their captain, and was thence called 
the exile-hunter. . . . Demosthenes, he heard, had taken 
sanctuary at the Temple of Poseidon in Calauria.^ 
Crossing over thither in some light vessels, as soon as he 
had landed himself, and the Thracian spearmen that came 
with him, Archias endeavored to persuade Demosthenes to 
accompany him to Antipater, as if he should meet with 

^ See page 106. ^ An island off the southeastern coast of Argolis. 



136 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST PHILIP 

no hard usage from him. But Demosthenes, in his sleep 
the night before, had a strange dream. It seemed to 
him that he was acting a tragedy, and contended with 
Archias for the victory; and though he acquitted himself 
well, and gave good satisfaction to the spectators, yet for 
want of better furniture and settings for the stage, he 
lost the day. And so, while Archias was speaking to him 
with many expressions of kindness, he sat still in the 
same posture, looking steadfastly upon him. 'O Archias,' 
said he, ' I am as little affected by your promises 
now as I used formerly to be by your acting.' Archias 
then began to grow angry and to threaten him. 'Now,' 
said Demosthenes, 'you speak like the genuine Mace- 
donian oracle; before you were but acting a part. 
Therefore forbear only a little, while I write a word home 
to my family.' Having thus spoken, he withdrew into the 
temple and taking a scroll, as if he meant to write, he put 
the reed into his mouth, and biting it, as he was wont to 
do when he was thoughtful or writing, he held it there for 
some time. Then he bowed down his head and covered 
it. The soldiers that stood at the door, supposing all 
this to proceed from want of courage and fear of death, 
in derision called him effeminate, and faint-hearted, and 
coward. And Archias, drawing near, desired him to rise 
up, and repeating the same kind things he had spoken 
before, he once more promised him to make his peace with 
Antipater. But Demosthenes, perceiving that now the 
poison had begun to operate, uncovered his head, and said 
to Archias, 'As soon as you please, you may commence 
the part of Creon in the tragedy, and cast out this body 
of mine unburied. But, O gracious Poseidon, I, for my 
part, while I am yet ahve, rise up and depart out of this 
sacred place; though Antipater and the Macedonians 



ORATION ON THE CROWN 137 

have not left so much as thy temple unpolluted.' After 
he had thus spoken he desired to be held up because 
already he had begun to tremble and stagger. As he was 
going forward and passing by the altar, he fell down, 
and with a groan gave up the ghost. . . . Soon after his 
death, the people of Athens bestowed on him such honors 
as he had deserved. They erected his statue of bronze; 
they decreed that the eldest of his family should be main- 
tained in the Prytaneum.^ On the base of his statue 
was engraven the famous inscription, 

Had you for Greece been strong, as wise you were, 
The Macedonian had not conquered her." ^ 

1 The pubHc hearth and common table estabhshed by the city of Athens. 
* Plutarch, Demosthenes, 28-30. 



CHAPTER XIII 

EXPLOITS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT i 

The subjection of the Greek city-states by Philip of 
Macedonia was only the first stage of a comprehensive 
scheme of conquest which that ambitious monarch enter- 
tained. At a Panhellenic council held at Corinth shortly 
after the battle of Chseronea, PhiUp announced his resolve 
to free the Greek cities of Asia and to lead an army against 
Persia in retahation for the expedition of Xerxes, a century 
and a half before. Fate, however, had destined that this 
gigantic task should be achieved by another and even 
greater man. The murder of Philip in the summer of 336 
B. c. placed his young son Alexander on the throne of 
Macedonia. After two years spent in quelhng revolts in 
Thrace and Greece, Alexander was ready to begin his mar- 
velous career as the conqueror of the East. For the his- 
tory of his conquests we are fortunate in possessing the work 
of Arrian, one of the most authentic and accurate of Greek 
historical compositions. Though Arrian wrote in the 
second century of our era, he used the best of contempo- 
rary records in compihng his narrative. The chief sources 
upon which he reUed were the lives of Alexander by Ptol- 
emy, one of Alexander's generals, and by Aristobulus, who 
also served under the Macedonian monarch. Arrian's 
admirable biography is ample compensation for the loss 
of these two works. 

^ Arrian's Anabasis of Alexander and Indica, translated by E. J. Chin- 
nock. London, 1893. George Bell and Sons. 



THE GORDIAN KNOT 139 

62. The Gordian Knot 1 

In the spring of 334 b. c, Alexander crossed the Helles- 
pont and invaded Asia Minor. We are told that when 
his army reached the site of Troy, Alexander delayed the 
advance to visit the citadel of Ilium and to place a gar- 
land upon the tomb of fleet-footed Achilles. The defeat 
of the Persian satraps at the river Granicus cleared out of 
Alexander's way the only force which was to oppose his 
progress in Asia Minor. Within a year from the crossing 
of the Hellespont, all Asia Minor lay at the conqueror's 
feet. Early in 333 b. c, Alexander advanced to Gordium, 
the capital of the ancient kingdom of Phrygia. * 

When Alexander arrived at Gordium, he was seized with 
an ardent desire to go up into the citadel, which contained the 
palace of Gordius and his son Midas. He was also desirous of 
seeing the wagon of Gordius and the cord of the yoke of this 
wagon. . . . The following saying was current, that whosoever 
could loosen the cord of the yoke of this wagon was destined 
to gain the rule of Asia. The cord was made of cornel bark, 
and neither end nor beginning to it could be seen. 

It is said by some that when Alexander could find out no way 
to loosen the cord and yet was unwilling to allow it to remain 
unloosened, lest this should exercise some disturbing influence 
upon the multitude, he struck it with his sword. He then cut it 
through and said that it had been loosened. But Aristobulus 
says that he pulled out the pin of the wagon-pole, which was a 
wooden peg driven right through it, holding the cord together. 
Having done this, he drew out the yoke from the wagon-pole. 
How Alexander performed the feat in connection with this 
cord, I cannot affirm with confidence. At any rate both he 
and his troops departed from the wagon as if the oracular pre- 
diction concerning the loosening of the cord had been fulfilled. 
1 Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, ii, 3. 



I40 EXPLOITS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT 

Moreover, that very night, the thunder and lightning were 
signs of its fulfillment; and for this reason Alexander offered 
sacrifice on the following day to the gods who had revealed 
the signs and the way to loosen the cord. 

53. Alexander's Treatment of the Family of Darius i 

The route from Gordium lay through the provinces of 
Cappadocia and Cilicia into Syria. On the little plain of 
Issus, where the vast numbers of the enemy were of no 
avail, Alexander met and overcame the Persian king 
(October, 333 b. c). Darius made good his escape, but 
in his hurried flight he left his choicest treasures in the 
possession of the victor. 

. . . Nor did Alexander treat the mother, wife, and children 
of Darius with neglect. It is said that on the very night in 
which he returned from the pursuit of Darius, entering the 
Persian king's tent, which had been selected for his use, he 
heard the lamentation of women and other sounds of a similar 
kind, not far from the tent. Inquiring who the women were, 
and why they were in a tent so near, he was answered by some 
one as follows, "O king, the mother, wife, and children of 
Darius are lamenting for him as slain, since they have been 
informed that thou hast his bow and his royal mantle, and that 
his shield has been brought back." When Alexander heard 
this, he sent Leonnatus, one of his Companions,^ to them, with 
injunctions to tell them, "Darius is still alive; in his flight 
he left his arms and mantle in the chariot; and these are the 
only things of his that Alexander has." Leonnatus entered 
the tent and told them the news about Darius. He added that 
Alexander would allow them to retain the state and retinue 
befitting their royal rank, as well as the title of queens; for he 
had not undertaken the war aganst Darius from a feeling of 

^ Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, ii, 12. 

^ A cavalry troop, some 1200 strong, composed of Macedonian knights. 



A LETTER FROM ALEXANDER TO DARIUS 141 

hatred, but he had conducted it in a legitimate manner for the 
empire of Asia. . . . 

54. A Letter from Alexander to Darius 1 

When Darius had reached safety beyond the Euphrates, 
he addressed a letter to Alexander in which he complained 
that Alexander was an unprovoked aggressor upon Persia. 
"And now he, a king, begged his captured wife, mother 
and children from a king; and he wished to form a friend- 
ship with him and become his ally." Alexander's answer 
to this request has been preserved. 

. . . Come to me, rather, since I am lord of all Asia. But 
if you are afraid you may suffer any harsh treatment from me, 
in case you come to me, send some of your friends to receive 
pledges of safety from me. Come to me, then, and ask for your 
mother, wife, and children, and anything else you wish. For 
whatever you ask for, you will receive; and nothing shall be 
denied you. But for the future, whenever you send to me, 
send to me as the king of Asia, and do not address to me your 
wishes as to an equal. If you are in need of anything, speak 
to me as to the man who is lord of all your territories. If you 
act otherwise, I shall deliberate concerning you as an evil-doer. 
And if you dispute my right to the kingdom, stay and fight 
another battle for it; but do not run away. For wherever 
you may be, I intend to march against you." . . . 

55. Visit to the Temple of Amon^ 

The battle of Issus opened the way into Syria. As 
Alexander marched southward, he came to the ancient 
city of Tyre, whose inhabitants closed their gates to the 
Macedonians. The siege of Tyre occupied Alexander 
nearly eight months (January- August, 332 b. c). The 

* Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, ii, 14. 
^ Ibid., iii, 3. 



142 EXPLOITS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT 

place was finally taken by storm. The same fate befell the 
ancient Philistine fortress of Gaza on the border between 
Palestine and Egypt. Alexander now marched unopposed 
into Egypt. While in that country (January, 331 b. c), 
he laid the foundations of the great city which to this 
day perpetuates the conqueror's name. 

After these transactions, Alexander was seized with an 
ardent desire to visit Amon ^ in Libya, partly in order to consult 
the god, because the oracle of Amon was said to be exact in 
its information. . . . He also deduced his pedigree from Amon. 
. . . Accordingly, he made the expedition to Amon with the 
design of learning his own origin more certainly, or at least 
that he might be able to say that he had learned it. 

According to Aristobulus, Alexander advanced along the 
seashore through a country which was a desert, but not desti- 
tute of water, a distance of about 1600 stades.^ Then he 
turned into the interior, where the oracle of Amon was located. 
The route is desert, and most of it is sand and destitute of 
water. But there was a copious supply of rain for Alexander, 
a thing which was attributed to the influence of the Deity; as 
was also the following occurrence. Whenever a south wind 
blows in that district, it heaps up sand upon the route far and 
wide, rendering the tracks of the road invisible, so that it is 
impossible to discover where one ought to direct one's course 
in the sand. . . . Consequently, Alexander's army lost the 
way, as even the guides were in doubt about the course to take. 
Ptolemy says that two serpents went in front of the army, 
uttering a voice, and that Alexander ordered the guides to 
follow them, trusting in the divine portent. He says, too, that 
they showed the way to the oracle and back again. But 
Aristobulus, whose account is generally admitted as correct, 

^ The Temple of Amon was in the oasis of Ammon about 220 miles 
west of Alexandria. An army sent by the Persian king, Cambyses, to 
destroy the temple was totally lost in the desert. See page 21. 

* About 187 miles. 



THE PURSUIT AND DEATH OF DARIUS 143 

says that two ravens flew in front of the army, and that these 
acted as Alexander's guides. . . . 

56. The Pursuit and Death of Darius ^ 

The advance against the Great King began early in the 
fateful year 331 b. c. Not far from ancient Nineveh, on 
a broad plain some sixty miles north of Arbela, Alexander 
encountered the Persian host (September, 331 b. c). Again 
the Macedonian triumphed and again Darius turned his 
chariot and fled, this time into the highlands of Media. 
For the moment Alexander did not pursue him, but con- 
tinued the march on Babylon. That great city yielded 
to the conqueror without a struggle. Susa, the summer 
residence of the Persian monarch, and Persepolis, with all 
its treasures, were soon captured. In the meantime Darius 
remained in Media, surrounded by those satraps of the 
eastern provinces who were still faithful to his fallen for- 
tunes. It was late in the spring of 330 b. c. when 
Alexander took up the chase of Darius and advanced on 
Ecbatana, the Median capital. As Alexander proceeded, 
he learned that Darius had been made prisoner by his 
own satraps who were hurrying him toward Bactria. 
Alexander now resolved on a swift and hot pursuit. 

... He came upon the barbarians just before daybreak, 
going along without any order and unarmed; so that only a 
few of them rushed to defend themselves. Most of them, as 
soon as they saw Alexander himself,' took to flight without 
even coming to blows. A few of those who had turned to 
resist were killed, and then the rest also fled away. Up 
to this time Bessus and his party were still conveying Darius 
with them in a covered carriage; but when Alexander was 
already close upon them, they wounded him and left him there, 
1 Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, iii, 21-22. 



144 EXPLOITS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT 

and with six hundred horsemen took to flight. Darius died 
from his wounds soon after, before Alexander had seen him. 
The body of Darius was sent to Persepolis, to be buried in the 
royal sepulcher, in the same way as the other Persian kings 
before him had been buried. . . . Such was the end of Darius. 

This king was a man very effeminate and lacking in self- 
reliance in military enterprises. As to civil matters he never 
exhibited any disposition to indulge in arbitrary conduct; nor 
indeed was it in his power to exhibit it. For it happened that 
he was involved in a war with the Macedonians and Greeks at 
the very time he succeeded to the regal power; and con- 
sequently it was no longer possible for him to act the tyrant 
toward his subjects, even if he had been so incUned, standing 
as he did in greater danger than they. 

As long as Darius lived, one misfortune after another befell 
him. He did not experience any cessation of calamity from the 
time when he first succeeded to the throne. In the first place 
the cavalry defeat was sustained by his viceroys at the Granicus, 
and forthwith all Asia Minor was occupied by his foe. . . . 
Then came his own discomfiture at Issus, where he saw his 
mother, wife, and children taken prisoners. Upon this Phoe- 
nicia and the whole of Egypt were lost. Next at Arbela he 
himself fled disgracefully among the first, and lost a very vast 
army composed of all the nations of his empire. After this, 
wandering as an exile from his own kingdom, he died after being 
betrayed by his personal attendants to the worst treatment 
possible, being at the same time the Great King and a prisoner. 
. . . When he died he was about fifty years of age, 

57. Capture of the Sogdian Rock ^ 

Though the royal dynasty of Persia had come to an end, 
the eastern provinces of the Persian Empire were yet un- 
subdued. Their conquest proved no easy task. During the 
next two years Alexander led his undaunted army through 

1 Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, iv, 18-19. 



CAPTURE OF THE SOGDIAN ROCK 145 

the little known regions of Iran. The spring of 328 b. c. 
found him crossing the almost insurmountable heights of 
the Hindu-Kush and occupying the fertile provinces of 
Bactria and Sogdiana. Here the captured Bessus met 
his doom and here also occurred the tragic episode of the 
death of Alexander's foster-brother, Clitus, murdered by 
the Macedonian king during a drunken carousal. While 
Alexander was still in Sogdiana, its wild tribes broke out 
in renewed hostilities. 

... At the first appearance of spring,^ Alexander advanced 
toward the rock in Sogdiana, to which, he was informed, many 
of the people had fled for refuge. Among these were said to 
be the wife and daughters of Oxyartes the Bactrian, who had 
deposited them for safety in that place, as if, indeed, it was 
impregnable. . . . When Alexander approached it, he found 
that it was precipitous on all sides and that the barbarians had 
collected provisions for a long siege. The great quantity of 
snow which had fallen helped to make the approach more 
difiicult to the Macedonians, while at the same time it kept 
the barbarians supplied with plenty of water. But notwith- 
standing all this, Alexander resolved to assault the place. . . . 
He then issued a proclamation that the first man who mounted 
should have a reward of twelve talents,^ the man who came 
next to him the second prize, and so on in proportion, so that 
the last reward should be three hundred darics ^ to the last 
prize-taker who reached the top. This proclamation excited 
the valor of the Macedonians still more, though they were 
even before very eager to begin the assault. 

All the men who had gained practice in scaling rocks in sieges 
banded themselves together to the number of three hundred, 
and provided themselves with the small iron pegs by which 
their tents had been fastened to the ground. These they 
intended to fix into the snow, wherever it might be seen to be 

^ Of the year 327 B. c. ^ About $14,000. ' About $1600. 



146 EXPLOITS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT 

frozen hard, or into the ground, if it should anywhere exhibit 
itself free from snow. Tying strong ropes made of flax to these 
pegs, they advanced in the night toward the most precipitous 
part of the rock, which was on this account most unguarded. 
Then they fixed some of these pegs into the earth, where it 
made itself visible, and others into the snow, where it seemed 
least likely to crumble, and so hoisted themselves up the rock, 
some in one place and some in another. Thirty of them per- 
ished in the ascent; and as they fell into various parts of the 
snow, not even could their bodies be found for burial. The 
rest, however, reached the top of the mountain at the approach 
of dawn. They took possession of it and then waved linen 
flags toward the camp of the Macedonians, as Alexander had 
directed them to do. He now sent a herald with instructions 
to shout to the sentries of the barbarians to make no further 
delay, but surrender at once. ... At the same time the herald 
pointed at the soldiers upon the crest of the mountain. The 
barbarians were alarmed by the unexpectedness of the sight 
and suspected that the men who were occupying the peaks were 
more numerous than they really were, and that they were com- 
pletely armed. They surrendered at once, so frightened did 
they become at the sight of those few Macedonians. 

The wives and children of many important men were there 
captured, including those of Oxyartes. This chief had a 
daughter, a maiden of marriageable age, named Roxana, who 
was asserted by the men who served in Alexander's army to 
have been the most beautiful of all the Asiatic women whom 
they had seen, with the single exception of the wife^ of Darius. 
They also say that no sooner did Alexander see her than he fell 
in love with her, and did not think it beneath his dignity to 
marry her. . . . 

58. Alexander and Poms ^ 

From Bactria and Sogdiana, Alexander turned to the 
conquest of India. He again crossed the Hindu-Kush 

1 See page 140. ^ Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, v, 19. 



MARCH THROUGH DESERT OF GEDROSIA 147 

and descended upon the broad plains of the Punjab, the 
region of the five rivers. One hard-fought battle with the 
Indian monarch Porus, by the banks of the Hydaspes 
(326 B. c), sufficed to remove the only power in the land 
which could hope to stay Alexander's progress. Porus 
was himself taken prisoner. 

When Alexander heard that Porus was being brought before 
him, he rode in front of the line with a few of the Companions 
to meet the Indian king. Stopping his horse, he admired the 
king's handsome figure, and his stature, which reached somewhat 
above five cubits. He was also surprised that Porus did not 
seem to be cowed in spirit; but advanced to meet him as one 
brave man would meet another brave man, after having gal- 
lantly struggled in defense of his own kingdom against another 
king. 

Then indeed Alexander was the first to speak, bidding him 
say what treatment he would like to receive. The story goes 
that Porus replied, "Treat me, Alexander, in a kingly way!" 
Alexander being pleased at the expression, said, "For my own 
sake, O Porus, thou shalt be thus treated; but for thy own 
sake do thou demand what is pleasing to thee!" But Porus 
said that everything was included in his former statement. 
Alexander being still more pleased at this remark, not only 
granted him the rule over his own Indians, but also added 
another country to that which he had before, of larger 
extent than the former. Thus he treated the brave man 
in a kingly way, and from that time found him faithful in 
all things. . . . 

59. The March through the Desert of Gedrosia ' 

Alexander now advanced to the Hyphasis. That river 
was destined to mark the eastward limit of his invasion. 
Though he would have led his men in an exploration of the 

* Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, vi, 24, 26. 



148 EXPLOITS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT 

rich Ganges region, the exhausted soldiers refused to 
go another step farther. Retracing their road to the 
Hydaspes, part of the army embarked on transports 
and the remainder marched southward along the two 
branches of the river to its junction with the Indus. Army 
and fleet now proceeded down the Indus to its mouth. 
The fleet under Nearchus was then sent west to explore 
the Indian Ocean and to discover, if possible, a sea route 
from India to the Euphrates. Alexander, with the army, 
was to return to Persia by a land route. The way led 
through the inhospitable regions of Gedrosia. 

. . . The scorching heat and lack of water destroyed a great 
part of the army, and especially the beasts of burden. Most 
of these perished from thirst and some of them even from 
the depth and heat of the sand, because it had been thoroughly 
scorched by the sun. For they met with lofty ridges of deep 
sand, not closely pressed and hardened, but such as received 
those who stepped upon it just as if they were stepping into 
mud, or rather into untrodden snow. At the same time, too, 
the horses and mules suffered still more, both in going up and 
coming down the hills, from the un evenness of the road as well 
as from its instabihty. The length of the marches between 
the stages also exceedingly distressed the army, since the lack 
of water often compelled them to make the marches unusually 
long. When they traveled by night on a journey which it 
was necessary to complete, and at daybreak came to water, 
they suffered no hardship at all. If, while still on the march, 
on account of the length of the way, they were caught by the 
heat, then they did indeed suffer terribly from the blazing 
sun, being at the same time oppressed by thirst. . . . 

Here I have resolved not to pass over in silence perhaps 
the most noble deed ever performed by Alexander. . , . The 
army was continuing its march through the sand, though the 
heat of the sun was already scorching, because it was necessary 



PLANS OF ALEXANDER 149 

to reach water before halting. They were far on the journey, 
and Alexander himself, though oppressed by thirst, was never- 
theless with great pain and difficulty leading the army on foot. 
... At this time some of the light-armed soldiers, starting 
away from the army in quest of water, found some collected 
^'pi a shallow cleft, a small and mean spring. Collecting this 
^ watef" With difficulty, they came with all speed to Alexander, 
as if they were bringing him some great « gift. As soon as 
they approached the king, they poured the water into a helmet 
and carried it to him. He took it, and commending the men 
who brought it, immediately poured it upon the ground in sight 
of all. As a result of this action, the entire army was reinvig- 
orated to so great a degree that anyone would have imagined 
that the water poured away by Alexander had furnished a 
draught to every man. . . . 

60. Plans of Alexander ^ 

After a terrible three months' march through desert 
sands, Alexander reached Persia and its ancient capital 
cities (325 B. c). He still had dreams of further 
conquests. 

For my owti part I cannot conjecture with any certainty 
what were now his plans ; and I do not care to guess. But this 
I think I can confidently affirm, that he meditated nothing 
small or mean; and that he would never have remained satis- 
fied with any of the acquisitions he had made. Even if he had 
added Europe to Asia, or the islands of the Britons to Europe, 
he would still have gone on seeking for some unknown land 
beyond those mentioned. I verily beheve that, if he had found 
no one else to strive with, he would have striven with himself. 

On this account I commend some of the Indian philosophers, 
who are said to have been caught by Alexander as they were 
walking in the open meadow where they were accustomed to 
spend their time. At the sight of him and his army they did 

1 Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, vii, i. 



I50 EXPLOITS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT 

nothing else but stamp with their feet on the earth. . . . 
When he asked them by means of interpreters what was the 
meaning of their action, they replied as follows: "0 King Alex- 
ander, every man possesses as much of the earth as this upon 
which we have stepped; but thou being only a man like the 
rest of us, except in being meddlesome and arrogant, art come 
over so great a part of the earth from thy own land, both 
having trouble thyself and giving it to others. And yet thou 
also wilt soon die, and possess only as much of the earth as is 
sufficient for thy body to be buried in." 

61. A Speech by Alexander ^ 

In the spring of 324 b. c, Alexander left Susa for Ecba- 
tana in Media. Sailing up the Tigris, he halted at Opis, 
and there formally discharged the Macedonian soldiers, 
some ten thousand in number, who by reason of old age 
or wounds were no longer fit for service. Although he 
promised to return them safely to Macedonia and to give 
them "as much extra reward as would make them special 
objects of envy at home," the soldiers did not take kindly 
to the proposal. They broke out in open mutiny and 
urged Alexander to dismiss, not only the worn-out veterans, 
but all the Macedonians in the army. The king promptly 
quelled the sedition by ordering the ringleaders to be 
executed. When the rest, stricken with terror, became 
silent, Alexander mounted a platform and addressed his 
former companions-in-arms. 

"But some one may say that, while you endured toil and 
fatigue, I have acquired wealth and glory as your leader with- 
out myself sharing the toil and fatigue. But who is there of 
you who knows that he has endured greater toil for me than 
I have for him? Come now! whoever has wounds, let him 
strip and show them, and I will show mine in turn. There is no 
^ Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, vii, 10. 



ALEXANDER'S CHARACTER 151 

part of my body, in front, at any rate, remaining free from 
wounds; nor is there any kind of weapon used either for close 
combat or for hurUng at the enemy, the traces of which I do 
not bear on my person. For I have been wounded with the 
sword in close fight, I have been shot with arrows, and I have 
been struck with missiles projected from engines of war. 
Though oftentimes I have been hit with stones and bolts of 
wood for the sake of your lives, your glory, and your wealth, 
I am still leading you as conquerors over all the land and sea, 
all rivers, mountains, -and plains. I have celebrated your 
weddings with my own, and the children of many of you will 
be akin to my children. Moreover, I have paid the debts of all 
those who had incurred them, without inquiring too closely for 
what purpose they were contracted, though you receive such 
high pay, and carry off so much booty whenever there is booty 
to be got after a siege. Most of you have golden crowns, the 
eternal memorials of your valor and of the honor you receive 
from me. Whoever has been killed, has met with a glorious 
end and has been honored with a splendid burial. Brazen 
statues of most of the slain have been erected at home and their 
parents are held in honor, being released from all public ser- 
vice and from taxation. But no one of you has ever been killed 
in flight under my leadership. And now I was intending to 
send back those of you who are unfit for service, objects of envy 
to those at home; but since you all wish to depart, depart all 
of you! . . ." 

It is pleasant to relate that this fiery speech by the 
angry monarch brought his soldiers to their senses. Be- 
fore long a reconciliation took place and henceforth Alex- 
ander and his troops resumed their cordial relations. 

62. Alexander's Character ' 

Toward the end of the year 324 b. c, Alexander set 
out from Ecbatana and reached Babylon. It was to be 

^ Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, vii, 28-30. 



152 EXPLOITS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT 

his last journey. He had passed only a few months in the 
capital city of his vast empire when the deadly Babylo- 
nian fever struck him down (June, 323 b. c). 

Alexander died in the hundred and fourteenth Olympiad. 
According to the statement of Aristobulus, he Hved thirty-two 
years, and had reached the eighth month of his thirty-third 
year. He had reigned twelve years and these eight months. 
He was very handsome in person, and much devoted to exer- 
tion. He was very active in mind, very heroic in courage, 
very tenacious of honor, exceedingly fond of incurring danger, 
and strictly observant of his duty to the Deity. In regard to 
the pleasures of the body, he had perfect self-control; and of 
those of the mind, praise was the only one of which he was 
insatiable. ... In marshahng, equipping, and ruhng an army, 
he was exceedingly skillful. He was very renowned for rousing 
the courage of his soldiers, filling them with hopes of success, 
and dispeUing their fear in the midst of danger by his own free- 
dom from fear. Therefore, even what he had to do in uncer- 
tainty of the result, he did with the greatest boldness. . . . 

That Alexander should have committed errors in conduct 
from impetuosity or from wrath, and that he should have 
been induced to act like the Persian monarchs to an immod- 
erate degree, I do not think remarkable, if we fairly consider 
both his youth and his uninterrupted career of good fortune. 
. . . However, I am certain that Alexander was the only one 
of the ancient kings who, from nobility of character, repented 
of the errors which he had committed. ... I do not think 
that even Alexander's tracing his origin to a god ^ was a great 
error on his part, if it was not perhaps merely a device to induce 
his subjects to show him reverence. . . . His adoption of the 
Persian mode of dressing also seems to me to have been a 
poHtical device in regard to the foreigners, that the king might 
not appear altogether alien to them ; and in regard to the Mace- 
donians, to show them that he had a refuge from their rashness 
^ See page 142. 



ALEXANDER'S CHARACTER 153 

of temper and insolence. For this reason, I think, he mixed 
the Persian royal guards, who carried golden apples at the 
end of their spears,^ among the ranks of the Macedonians, and 
the Persian peers with the Macedonian body-guards. Aris- 
tobulus also asserts that Alexander used to have long drinking 
parties, not for the purpose of enjoying the wine, as he was not 
a great wine-drinker, but in order to exhibit his sociability and 
friendly feeling to his Companions. 

Whoever, therefore, reproaches Alexander as a bad man, 
let him do so; but let him first not only bring before his mind 
all his aptions deserving reproach, but also gather into one 
view all his deeds of every kind. Then, indeed, let him reflect 
. . . who that man was whom he reproaches as bad, and to 
what a height of human success he attained, becoming with- 
out any dispute a king of both continents ,2 and reaching every 
place by his fame. . . . For my own part, I think there was 
at that time no race of men, no city, or even a single individ- 
ual to whom Alexander's name and fame had not penetrated. 
For this reason it seems to me that a hero, totally unlike any 
other human being, could not have been born without the 
agency of the Deity. . . . 

^ See page 73. ^ Europe and Asia. 



CHAPTER XIV 

LEGENDS OF EARLY ROME ^ 

Most eloquent of all Roman historians is Livy (59 b. c- 
17 A. D.). His history of Rome begins with Romulus and 
extends to the reign of Augustus. The first ten books of 
the work relate the fortunes of the Roman city from its 
foundation to the consoUdation of Roman power in Italy 
by the subjugation of the Samnites. Modern scholars 
are not incHned to attach much value as sober history 
to this earHer part of Livy's narrative. And indeed the 
author himself declares that for the first four centuri.es of 
Roman history "the facts were obscure by reason of their 
remote antiquity, like objects which from their great dis- 
tance are seen with difficulty, and also because in those 
times written records, which are the only faithful guard- 
ians of the memory of events, were few and rare." ^ 
Whatever their historical importance, the earlier chap- 
ters of Livy's great production are a treasure house of 
those heroic legends, of those splendid stories of patriotic 
devotion, which never failed to fire the hearts of noble 

Romans. 

63. The Founding of Rome » 

JEnesiS, son of Priam, after the destruction of Troy by 
the Greeks, led a colony of Trojans into Latium, the fated 
end of his long wanderings by land and sea. And here 

1 Livy. History of Rome, books i-vi, ix. The translation of D. Spillan, 
revised by J. H. Freese, E. S. Weymouth, and Francis Storr. London, 
1893-1894. George Bell and Sons. 

' Livy, vi, I. ^ Livy, i, 6-7. 



THE FOUNDING OF ROME 155 

he married Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus, and founded 
a city called, after her name, Lavinium. When ^Eneas 
died, his son Ascanius succeeded his father as king of the 
Latins and built a new city under the Alban Hills, named 
Alba Longa (the "Long White Town"). Now many gen- 
erations afterwards, King Amulius sat upon the throne of 
Alba Longa, having wickedly expelled his elder brother, 
Numitor, from the royal power. And he forced Rhea 
Silvia, Numitor's daughter, to become a Vestal Virgin, lest 
she marry and raise a son to avenge the wrongs of her 
house. It was decreed by the Fates, however, that she 
should bear to Mars, the god of war, twin sons, Romulus 
and Remus. When Numitor learned of their birth, he 
ordered the babes to be set adrift on the Tiber. But 
Heaven guarded them: the river, subsiding, left the trough 
and its occupants safe on dry land; and a she- wolf, hearing 
their cries, came and nursed them. In this situation 
they were discovered by a shepherd, who rescued the chil- 
dren and brought them to his home. After the boys had 
grown to manhood, they killed the wicked Amulius and 
restored their grandfather Numitor to his kingdom. 

. . . The government of Alba Longa being thus intrusted 
to Numitor, Romulus and Remus were seized with the desire 
of building a city on the spot where they had been exposed and 
brought up. . . . But ambition to be sole ruler interrupted their 
plans, and provoked them to a shameful quarrel. Since they 
were twins, and neither could claim the rights of an elder 
brother, they agreed to leave it to the gods, under whose pro- 
tection the place was, to choose by augury which of them should 
give a name to the new city, and govern it when built. Rom- 
ulus chose the Palatine ^ and Remus the Aventine,^ as points of 
observation for taking the auguries. 

' Two of the "seven hills" of Rome. 



156 LEGENDS OF EARLY ROME 

It is said that an omen came to Remus first, in the shape of 
six vultures. When, after the omen had been declared, twice 
that number presented themselves to Romulus, each was hailed 
king by his own party. Remus claimed sovereign power be- 
cause he had been the first to see any birds; Romulus likewise 
claimed to have triumphed because he saw more birds than his 
brother. ... A common account is that Remus, in derision 
of his brother, leaped over the newly-erected walls of Rome, 
and was thereupon slain by Romulus in a fit of passion. " So," 
said Romulus, "may every one perish hereafter, who shall 
leap over my walls." Thus Romulus obtained supreme power 
for himself alone. The city, when built, was called after the 
name of its foimder. . . . 

64. Rape of the Sabine Women ^ 

The Roman state was now so powerful, that it was a match 
for any of the neighboring states in war. But owing to the 
scarcity of women, its greatness was not Ukely to outlast the 
existing generation. ... By the advice of the senators, Romu- 
lus sent ambassadors around to the neighboring states, to soUcit 
an alliance and the right of intermarriage for his new subjects. 
. . . The embassy nowhere obtained a favorable hearing. 
Although the neighboring peoples treated it with great con- 
tempt, yet at the same time they dreaded the growth of such a 
mighty power in their midst. In most cases, when the ambas- 
sadors were dismissed, they were asked whether they had 
opened an asylum for women also ; ^ for in that way only 
could they obtain suitable matches. 

The Roman youths were bitterly indignant at this treatment, 
and the matter began unmistakably to point to open violence. 
Romulus, in order to provide a fitting opportunity and place for 
this, instituted games to be solemnized every year in honor of 
equestrian Neptune. He then ordered the show to be pro- 

^ Livy, i, 9. 

2 To increase the population of his city Romulus had made it an asylum 
for all the reckless and discontented individuals in the neighboring tribes. 



WAR WITH THE SABINES 157 

claimed among the neighboring peoples. The Romans pre- 
pared to celebrate it with all the pomp which they were able to 
exhibit. Great numbers of strangers then flocked to Rome to 
witness the games and see the new city. . . . They were hospi- 
tably invited to the different houses. When they noticed the 
position of the city, its fortified walls, and how crowded with 
houses it was, they were astounded that the power of Rome 
had increased so rapidly. 

When the time of the show arrived, and their eyes and minds 
alike were intent upon it, then, according to preconcerted ar- 
rangement, a disturbance was made. At a given signal, the 
Roman youths rushed in different directions to seize the unmar- 
ried women. A great number were carried off at haphazard, 
by those into whose hands they fell. ... As the festival was 
interrupted by the alarm thus caused, the sorrowing parents 
of the maidens retired, complaining of the violated compact 
of hospitality, and crying for vengeance to the god, to whose 
solemn festival and games they had come. . . . 

65. War with the Sabines ^ 

And now the Sabines arose in fierce anger, seeking ven- 
geance for their wrongs. Rome was besieged by a Sabine 
army under King Titus Tatius. 

. . . Spurius Tarpeius was in command of the Roman cit- 
adel. Now it happened that his maiden daughter . . . was 
bribed by Tatius to admit some armed soldiers into the cit- 
adel. After they were admitted, they crushed her to death 
by heaping their arms upon her. They did this, either that 
the citadel might rather appear to have been taken by storm, 
or for the sake of setting forth a warning that faith should 
never on any occasion be kept with a betrayer. . . . 

Although the Sabines had captured the citadel on the 
Capitoline Hill, the Romans were not ready to concede 

^ Livy, i, II, 13. 



158 LEGENDS OF EARLY ROME 

defeat. In the valley, afterwards occupied by the Forum, 
the two armies drew up for a decisive struggle. 

At this crisis the Sabine women, with disheveled hair and 
torn garments . . . flung themselves into the midst of the 
flying weapons, and parted the incensed combatants. They 
implored their fathers on the one hand and their husbands on 
the other, not to besprinkle themselves with impious blood 
or to fix the stain of murder on their offspring. "If," said they, 
"you are dissatisfied . . . with our marriage, turn your re- 
sentment against us; it is we who are the cause of war, of 
wounds and bloodshed to our husbands and parents. It 
will be better for us to perish than to live widows or orphans 
without one or other of you." This incident so affected 
the people that silence and sudden quiet followed. The 
leaders thereupon came forward to conclude a treaty; and 
not only made a peace, but formed one state out of two. 
They united the kingly power, but transferred the entire 
sovereignty to Rome. . . . 

66. Death of Romulus ^ 

The Sabines were now settled on the Capitoline Hill 
and the Romans under Romulus on the Palatine. For a 
time the two kings ruled in common, but after the death of 
Tatius, Romulus became the sole king of the united com- 
munity. During his long reign he vanquished many of the 
surrounding peoples and firmly established the power of 
the Roman city. 

One day when Romulus was reviewing his army in the 
plain 2 a storm suddenly came on. It was accompanied by 
loud thunder and lightning, and enveloped the king in so dense 
a mist that it entirely hid him from the sight of the assembly. 
After this Romulus was never seen again on earth. . . . All 

^ Livy, i, i6. ^ On the field of Mars, the Campus Martius. 



THE AFFAIR AT GABII 159 

the people now saluted Romulus as a god, the son of a god, 
the king and parent of the Roman city. They also prayed 
that with gracious kindness he would always preserve his 
offspring. . . . 

Proculus Julius, while the state was still troubled at the 
loss of the king . . . came forward into the assembly. "Qui- 
rites," said he, "Romulus, the father of this city, suddenly de- 
scending from heaven, appeared to me this day at dawn. . . . 
'Go,' said he, 'tell the Romans, that the gods have decreed that 
my Rome should become the capital of the world. Therefore 
let theni cultivate the art of war, and let them know and so 
hand it down to posterity, that no human power can withstand 
the Roman arms.' Having said this, he vanished up to 
heaven." It is surprising how much credit was given to that 
person when he made the announcement. It is no less remark- 
able how much the regret of the common people and army for 
the loss of Romulus was relieved when the certainty of his 
immortality was made known. 

67. The Affair at Gabii 1 

Romulus, according to legend, was followed by six 
other kings. The last of these was an Etruscan, Tar- 
quinius the Proud. He ruled Rome harshly and made 
many enemies. One of his exploits was the capture of the 
city of Gabii by fraud and stratagem; "arts," says Livy, 
*'by no means Roman." Representing himself as a fugi- 
tive from his father's cruelty, young Sextus Tarquinius 
fled to Gabii whose unsuspecting citizens received him 
kindly. He was immediately admitted into their public 
councils and before very long was chosen as commander 
in the war against Rome. 

. . . When he saw that he had sufficient strength collected to 
support him in any undertaking, he sent one of his confidants 

1 Livy, i, 54. 



i6o LEGENDS OF EARLY ROME 

to his father at Rome to inquire what he wished him to do. 
To this courier no answer by word of mouth was given, because, 
I suppose, he appeared of questionable fideUty. The king went 
into a garden of the palace, as if in deep thought, followed by 
his son's messenger. Walking there for some time without 
uttering a word, he is said to have struck off the heads of the 
tallest poppies with his staff. ^ The messenger, wearied with 
asking and waiting for an answer, returned to Gabii appar- 
ently without having accomplished his object, and told what 
he had himself said and seen. He added that Tarquin, either 
through passion, aversion to him, or his innate pride, had not 
uttered a single word. As soon as it was clear to Sextus what 
his father wished, he put to death the most eminent men of the 
city. . . . Some who wished to go into voluntary exile were 
allowed to do so, others were banished, and their estates, 
as well as the estates of those who were put to death, 
publicly divided in their absence. Out of these the gifts 
and plunder were distributed. By the sweets of private 
gain the sense of public calamities became extinguished. At 
last the state of Gabii, destitute of counsel and assistance, 
surrendered itself without a struggle into the power of the 
Roman king. 

68. Execution of the Sons of Brutus ^ 
Some time after this exploit, Sextus Tarquinius, coming 
by night to the house of a cousin, Tarquinius Collatinus, 
did violence to Lucretia, his chaste and beautiful wife. 
The next day Lucretia summoned her husband and her 
father, told them the story of her injury, and made them 
swear vengeance on the guilty man. Then in their pres- 
ence she stabbed herself to death. Another witness to 
the tragedy was Lucius Junius Brutus, the friend of 

1 The original of this story is found in Herodotus where it is told of the 
tyrant Thrasybulus. See page 54. 

2 Livy, ii, 5. 



THE EXPLOIT OF HORATIUS i6i 

Collatinus and a nephew of the king. He it was who now 
delivered the Romans from the tyrant and his evil race. 
Brutus and Collatinus were then chosen as the first con- 
suls of the new republic (509 b. c). Not long afterward 
the two sons of Brutus joined a conspiracy to restore Tar- 
quinius Superbus to his throne. The plot was detected 
and the children of Brutus were seized and condemned 
to death. 

. . . This punishment was the more noticeable, because the 
consulship imposed on the father the office of punishing his 
own children. . . . Young men of the highest rank stood bound 
to the stake; but the consul's sons diverted the eyes of all the 
spectators from the rest of the criminals, as from persons un- 
known. The people felt pity, not so much on account of their 
punishment, as of the crime by which they had deserved it. 
. . . The consuls advanced to take their seats, and the lictors 
were dispatched to inflict punishment. The young men were 
stripped naked, beaten with rods, and their heads struck off 
with the axe. The looks and countenance of the father pre- 
sented a touching spectacle, as his natural feelings displayed 
themselves during the discharge of his duty in inflicting public 
punishment. . . . 

69. The Exploit of Horatius 1 

Tarquinius now sought aid from his countrymen, the 
Etruscans. The battle which ensued brought no decided 
success to either side. Then the cause of the exiles was 
taken up by Lars Porsena, the powerful king of Clusium. 
He appeared before Rome with a great army. Never 
before was the Roman state in such deadly peril. On 
the approach of the hostile forces all withdrew for pro- 
tection from the country into the city. The SubHcian 
Bridge, connecting with the Janiculum across the Tiber, 

1 Livy, ii, 10. 



i62 LEGENDS OF EARLY ROME 

wellnigh afforded the enemy an entrance into Rome. 
But in one man, Horatius Codes, the protecting spirit 
of Rome on that day found a defense. He strode to 
the front of the bridge and single-handed defied the 
enemy. 

A sense of shame kept back with him two other Romans, 
Spurius Larcius and Titus Herminius, both men of high birth, 
and renowned for their gallant exploits. With them Horatius 
for a short time stood the first storm of danger and the sever- 
est brunt of the battle. Afterwards, as those who were cutting 
down the bridge called upon them to retire, and only a small 
portion of it was left, he obliged them also to withdraw to a 
place of safety. Then, casting his stern eyes threateningly 
upon all the nobles of the Etruscans, he now challenged them 
singly, now reproached them all as the slaves of haughty tyrants, 
who, unmindful of their own freedom, came to attack that of 
others. For a considerable time they hesitated, looking round 
one upon another, and waiting to commence the fight. A feeling 
of shame then stirred the army, and raising a shout, they hurled 
their weapons from all sides on their single adversary. When 
these had all stuck in the shield he held before him, and he 
with no less obstinacy kept possession of the bridge, they sought 
to thrust him down from it by their united attack. But the 
crash of the falling bridge, and at the same time the shout 
raised by the Romans for joy at having completed their task, 
checked their assault. Then Horatius said, "Father Tiber- 
inus,^ holy one, I pray thee, receive these arms and this thy 
soldier, in thy favoring stream." Then, in full armor, he leaped 
into the Tiber, and, amid showers of darts that fell upon him, 
swam across unharmed to his comrades. The state showed 
itself grateful towards such distinguished valor. A statue of 
Horatius was erected in the Forum, and as much land was 
given to him as he could draw a furrow round in one day with 
a plough. 

^ Tiberinus was the tutelary divinity of the river. 



THE DEED OF MUCIUS SC^VOLA 163 

70. The Deed of Mucius Scsevola ^ 

Porsena, unable to capture Rome by storm, turned the 
siege into a blockade. And now a high-born Roman youth, 
Mucius by name, obtained leave from the Senate to enter 
the enemy's lines in disguise, "not for plunder," he said, 
"but for a deed of higher mark, with the help of the gods." 
He penetrated to the tribunal of the Etruscan monarch 
and sought to kill him, but by accident dispatched the 
royal secretary instead. Mucius was promptly seized by 
the guards and brought before the king. 

... "I am," said the undaunted youth, "a Roman cit- 
izen; men call me Gaius Mucius. An enemy, I wished to 
slay an enemy. Nor have I less courage to suffer death than I 
had to inflict it. Both to do and to suffer bravely is a Roman's 
part. Nor have I alone harbored such feelings toward you. 
There follows after me a long succession of aspirants to the same 
honor. Therefore, if you choose, prepare yourself for this 
peril: to be in danger of your life from hour to hour; to find 
the sword and the enemy at the very entrance of your tent. 
Such is the war we, the young men of Rome, declare against 
you. Dread not an army in the field, or a battle; you will 
have to contend alone and with each of us one by one." 

When the king, furious with rage, and at the same time ter- 
rified at the danger, commanded fires to be kindled about 
him, if he did not speedily disclose the plots at which he had 
darkly hinted, Mucius said, "See here, that you may under- 
stand of how little account the body is to those who have great 
glory in view." Immediately he thrust his right hand into the 
fire that was lighted for sacrifice. There he allowed it to burn 
as if his spirit were quite insensible to any feeling of pain. The 
king, who was astounded at this surprising sight, leaped from his 
seat and commanded the young man to be removed from the 
altar. "Depart," said he, " thou who hast acted more like 

' Livy, ii, 12. 



1 64 LEGENDS OF EARLY ROME 

an enemy toward thyself than toward me. I would bid thee 
go on and prosper in thy valor, if that valor was on the side of 
my country. I now dismiss thee unharmed and unhurt, exempt 
from the right of war." Then Mucius, as if in return for the 
kindness, said, "Since bravery is held in honor with you, that 
you may obtain from me by your kindness what you could 
not obtain by threats, know this: we are three hundred, the 
chief of the Roman youth, who have conspired to attack you 
in this manner. The lot fell upon me first. The rest will be 
with you, each in his turn . . . until fortune or some favor- 
able opportunity shall have delivered you into our hands." 

This deed of Mucius, thenceforward known in legend 
by the surname Scaevola (left-handed), determined Por- 
sena to withdraw from the investment of the city. So 
Tarquinius, foiled once more, stirred up the Latin Confed- 
eracy to make war upon the Romans. But at the great 
battle of Lake Regillus the Latins and their royal allies 
were totally defeated. Rome was at length delivered 
from the rule of kings (497 b. c). 

71. Coriolanus and the Roman Matrons ^ 

Among the enemies surrounding the young republic 
were the Volscians, who lived in the southern part of La- 
tium. With these rude mountaineers Rome had many 
border wars. One of her most successful generals was 
Coriolanus. He, however, was a patrician and when the 
plebeian tribunes unjustly prosecuted him on the charge of 
treason against the liberties of the people, Coriolanus took 
refuge among his former foes. Under his able leadership 
the Volscians recovered many of their lost possessions and 
at last pitched their camp within a few miles of Rome. 
In the presence of this emergency, the plebeians refused 

1 Liv^y, ii, 40. 



FABIAN GENS AND WAR AGAINST VEII 165 

to fight. The Senate in vain sent envoy after envoy to 
Coriolanus to detach him from his unnatural alliance. 
To all their requests he gave a harsh reply. It is recorded, 
too, that the priests in their sacred garb went as suppliants 
to the enemy's camp; and that they did not influence the 
mind of Coriolanus any more than had the deputies of 
the Senate. Then Veturia, the mother of Coriolanus, 
and his wife Volumnia, accompanied by her two sons and 
a crowd of Roman matrons, sought out the haughty 
conqueror. 

. . . Coriolanus rushed from his seat and offered to embrace 
his mother as she met him. She, however, turning from en- 
treaties to wrath, said, "Before I permit your embrace, let 
me know whether I have come to an enemy or to a son, whether 
I am in your camp a captive or a mother? Has length of life 
and a hapless old age reserved me for this — to behold you 
first an exile, then an enemy? Have you had the heart to lay 
waste this land, which gave you birth and nurtured yoru? 
Though you came in an incensed and vengeful spirit, did 
not your resentment abate when you entered its borders? 
When Rome appeared in view, did not the thought enter your 
mind — within those walls are my house and household gods, 
my mother, wife, and children? So then, had I not been a 
mother, Rome would not now be besieged. Had I not a son, 
I might have died free in a free country." . . . The lamentation 
proceeding from the entire crowd of women, and their bemoan- 
ing their own lot, and that of their country, at length overcame 
the man. After embracing his family, he sent them away 
and withdrew his camp from the city. 

72. The Fabian Gens and the War Against Veii^ 

Across the Tiber, not far from Rome, lay the powerful 
Etruscan city of Veil. The enmity between the two 

^ Livy, ii, 48-49. 



1 66 LEGENDS OF EARLY ROME 

cities was of long standing. One of the legends of this 
period relates how the single Roman family of the Fabii 
undertook to carry on the war out of their own resources 
and by means of their own numbers alone. 

. . Then the Fabian family approached the Senate and 
the consul spoke in the name of the family, "Conscript fathers, 
the Veientine war requires, as you know, an unremitting rather 
than a strong defense. Do you attend to other wars: assign 
the Fabii as enemies to the Veientines. We pledge ourselves 
that the majesty of the Roman name shall be safe in that 
quarter. This war, as if it was a family matter, it is bur deter- 
mination to conduct at our own private expense. In regard 
to it, let the republic be spared the expense of soldiers and 
money." For this offer the warmest thanks were returned to 
them. . . . 

On the following day, the Fabii took up arms and assembled 
where they had been directed. The consul, coming forth in his 
military robe, beheld the whole family drawn up in the order 
of march. . . . Never did an army proceed through the city, 
either smaller in number, or more distinguished in renown and 
more admired by all. Three hundred and six soldiers, all 
patricians, all of one family, not one of whom an honest Sen- 
ate would reject as a leader under any circumstances what- 
ever, went on their way, threatening the Veientine state 
with destruction by the might of a single family. ... As they 
passed the Capitol and the citadel, and the other sacred edifices, 
the people offered up prayers to the gods that they would send 
forward that band with prosperity and success, and soon return 
them safe to their country. In vain were these prayers 
uttered. . . . 

For two years (479-477 b. c.) the Fabii kept garrison 
against Veil. Then they were surprised and cut to pieces, 
only one young man escaping from the massacre to become 
the new founder of the house of Fabius. 



CINCINNATUS THE DICTATOR 167 

73. Cincinnatus the Dictator ^ 

Not many ^ears after this ill-fated enterprise of the 
Fabii, the Romans were involved in a desperate struggle 
with the iEquians (458 B. c). These hardy mountaineers 
from their strongholds in the Apennines made constant 
descents upon the fertile and unprotected plains of La- 
tium. Once they shut up a Roman consul and his army in 
a valley. When the Senate met in hurried council upon 
this crisis, one man's name was upon the Hps of all. It 
was Lucius Quintius, whom the people called Cincinnatus 
from his "crisped" hair. He was appointed dictator with 
absolute power over Rome and her armies. 

... It is worth while for those persons who despise all 
things human in comparison with riches, and who suppose 
that there is no room either for exalted honor or for virtue, 
except where riches abound in great profusion, to Hsten to the 
following story. Lucius Quintius, the sole hope of the Roman 
people, cultivated a farm of four acres on the other side of the 
Tiber. . . . While engaged on some work in the fields, he was 
requested by the ambassadors to put on his toga, and listen to 
the commands of the Senate. Asking whether all was well, 
he bade his wife immediately bring his toga from the hut. As 
soon as he had put it on, having first wiped off the dust and 
sweat, the ambassadors congratulated him and united in salut- 
ing him as dictator. They then summoned him to the city 
and told him what terror prevailed in the army. . . . 

Cincinnatus immediately took the field. He attacked 
the blockading ^Equians, compelled them to surrender, 
and returned to Rome victorious. The Senate granted 
him a splendid triumph. After a rule of sixteen days 
he laid down his absolute power and retired, once more 
a humble peasant, to his httle farm. 

• Livy, iii, 26. 



1 68 LEGENDS OF EARLY ROME 

74. Capture of Veii ^ 

By the end of the fifth century B. c, the Romans had 
recovered Latium from their enemies, the Volscians and 
yEquians. They now renewed the war with Veii. The 
city endured a siege of ten years. Its capture by the 
dictator Camillus (396 b. c.) removed Rome's longest and 
most bitter rival for supremacy. 

. . . When all the property of the people of Veii had been 
carried away, the Romans began to remove the offerings to their 
gods and the images of the gods themselves. But they pro- 
ceeded more after the manner of worshipers than of plunderers. 
Certain youths, selected from the entire army, were assigned 
the duty of conveying Queen Juno to Rome. Having thor- 
oughly washed their bodies and arrayed themselves in white 
garments, they entered her temple with profound adoration. 
They applied their hands to the image of Juno with religious 
awe, because, according to the Etruscan usage, no one but a 
priest of a certain family had been accustomed to touch the 
statue. When some one, either moved by divine inspiration 
or in youthful jocularity, said, "Juno, art thou willing to go to 
Rome," the rest all declared that the goddess nodded assent. 
It was also said that Juno was heard to declare that she was 
willing to go. At any rate her image was raised from its place 
by machines of trifling power, and was easily removed. . . . 

75. Sack of Rome by the Gauls 2 

Only a few years after the fall of Veii the Roman state 
met with a great disaster. Barbarian Gauls from beyond 
the Alps, having overrun northern Italy, invaded Etruria 
and totally defeated a Roman army by the Uttle stream of 
the Alha, eleven miles from Rome (390 b. c). Most of 
the fugitives took refuge in the deserted city of Veii. At 
Rome all who could bear arms shut themselves up in the 

^ Livy, V, 22. 2 Livy, v, 41. 



REPULSE OF THE GAULS FROM THE CAPITOL 169 

citadel on the Capitoline Hill. The aged senators and 
patricians, who would not burden the defenders of the 
Capitol, refused to leave their homes and proudly awaited 
death at the hands of the enemy. The Gauls reached the 
walls of Rome on the evening of the battle, and found 
the gates open and the city deserted. Fearing a stratagem, 
they postponed their entrance till the morning. 

. . . On the next day the Gauls entered the city, advanced 
through the Colline Gate, which lay open, into the Forum . . . 
and dispersed in quest of plunder through the empty streets. 
Some of them in a body rushed into the houses which were near- 
est; some repaired to those which were most distant, consid- 
ering that those certainly would be untouched and abounding 
in spoil. Afterward, being terrified by the very soHtude, 
they returned in a mass to the Forum and the parts adjoining 
the Forum, in order that no stratagem of the enemy should 
surprise them while dispersed. There, as the houses of the 
common people had barred doors, and the halls of the leading 
men stood open, almost greater hesitation was felt about attack- 
ing the open, than the closed, houses. With what veneration 
did they behold men sitting in the porches of their houses, men 
who . . . were like to gods in the majesty which their looks 
and the gravity of their countenance displayed! While they 
stood gazing at the senators, as if the latter were statues, it 
is said that Marcus Papirius roused the anger of a Gaul by 
striking him on the head with his ivory staff, because he stroked 
Marcus' long beard. Irritated by this action, the Gauls slew 
Marcus and then the rest of the nobles as they sat in their seats. 
No person whatever was spared; the houses were plundered, 
and when emptied, were set on fire. 

76. Repulse of the Gauls from the Capitol ^ 

Meanwhile, the citadel and Capitol of Rome were in great 
danger. For the Gauls had either perceived the track of a 

1 Livy, V, 47.. 



I70 LEGENDS OF EARLY ROME 

human foot where a messenger from Veii had passed, or had 
themselves noticed the rock with its easy ascent at the Temple 
of Carmentis. On a starlight night, after they had first sent 
forward an unarmed man to make trial of the way, they at- 
tempted the ascent of the rock. Handing over their arms 
whenever any difficult passage occurred, and alternately sup- 
ported by and supporting each other, they reached the summit 
in such silence that they not only escaped the notice of the 
sentinels, but of the dogs also. But the Gauls did not escape 
the notice of the geese. These, as being sacred to Juno, had 
been spared by the Romans, though there was the greatest scar- 
city of food. As it turned out, this was a very fortunate cir- 
cumstance. For Marcus ManHus, who three years before had 
been consul, was aroused from sleep by their cackling and the 
clapping of their wings. He snatched up his arms, at the same 
time calling the others to do the same, and proceeded at once 
to the spot. He then struck with the boss of his shield a Gaul 
who had already got footing on the summit, and tumbled him 
down. Since the fall of this man threw down those who were 
next, Manlius slew others, who in their consternation had cast 
aside their arms and were grasping tight the rocks to which 
they clung. And now the other Romans, having assembled, 
beat down the enemy with javelins and stones, and the whole 
line of Gauls was hurled headlong with a crash. The alarm 
then subsiding, the remainder of the night was given up by the 
Romans to repose, as far as could be done considering the dis- 
turbed state of their minds. , . . 

Though the citadel still held out, the famine was sore 
among its defenders. At length the Gauls, who had little 
liking for a siege, were bribed to withdraw from the city. 
A thousand pounds' weight of gold was agreed upon "as a 
ransom of a people who were soon after to be the rulers of 
the world. To a transaction so very humiliating in itself, 
insult was added. False weights were brought by the 
Gauls, and, on the tribune objecting to them, the insolent 



CONDEMNATION OF MARCUS MANLIUS 171 

Gallic chieftain threw in his sword in addition to the 
weights, and was heard to utter an expression intolerable 
to Roman ears, ' Woe to the vanquished.'" But before this 
disgraceful bargain was completed, the great dictator, 
Camillus, marched in from Veii at the head of his troops. 
He bade the treasure be taken back and told his country- 
men that Rome was ransomed with steel, not with gold. 
Then in two pitched battles he so thoroughly defeated the 
Gauls that, according to Livy, "not a man was left to carry 
home the news of their disaster." 

77. Condemnation of Marcus Manlius * 

When all danger from the Gauls had passed away, the 
Romans hurriedly rebuilt their city. Under the leader- 
ship of Camillus they triumphed over the Volscians and 
Etruscans, who had seized the hour of Rome's adversity 
to renew the long war for the supremacy of Latium. Ca- 
millus gained great glory, and in after years the grateful 
Romans styled him the second founder of their city. But 
the brave Marcus Manhus, the defender of the Capitol, 
met a different fate. He was accused by the patricians 
of ingratiating himself with the plebeians with intent to 
make himself a king. 

... He is said to have brought forward nearly four hundred 
persons to whom he had lent money without interest, whose 
goods he had prevented from being sold, or whom he had 
saved from being led off as bondsmen. Besides this, he 
not only enumerated his military records, but even set them 
forth to view. These included spoils of slain enemies up to 
thirty and presents from generals to the number of forty. 
Among the latter the most remarkable were two mural crowns 
and eight civic crowns. He also brought forward citizens whom 
' Livy, vi, 20. 



172 LEGENDS OF EARLY ROME 

he had preserved from the enemy. . . . Then, after he had 
recounted his exploits in war ... he bared his breast, marked 
with scars received in battle. ... He entreated the people to 
form their judgment of him with their eyes fixed on the Cap- 
itol and citadel and with their faces turned to the immortal 
gods. 

As the people were summoned by centuries on the field of 
Mars,^ and as the accused, extending his hands toward the 
Capitol, directed his prayers from men to the gods, it became 
evident to the tribunes that ManHus could never be condemned 
within sight of the Capitol. So the day of trial was postponed, 
and a meeting of the people was summoned in the Peteline 
grove outside the Flumentan Gate, from which there was no 
view of the Capitol. There the charge was made good. 

In the stubbornness of their determination an awful sentence 
— one which excited horror even in his judges — was passed 
on him. . . . The tribunes cast him down from the Tarpeian 
rock.2 . . . Marks of infamy were offered to him when dead: 
a public one, in that, since his home had been where the 
Temple of Moneta and the Mint now stand, it was proposed 
to the people that no patrician should dwell in the citadel and 
Capitol. The other was inflicted by his clan, it being provided 
by a decree of the Manlian clan that none of their descendants 
should ever bear the name of Marcus ManHus. Such was the 
fate of a man who, had he not been born in a free state, 
would have been celebrated. . . . 

The discomfiture of the Gauls gave the Romans only a 
temporary respite from their foes. In the great Latin 
War (340-338 B.C.), Rome had to contend against a union 
of all the Latin cities. Victorious in this struggle, she 
soon became involved in another with the Samnites, the 
most powerful people of central Italy. Livy's narrative, 
as it has reached us, breaks off before the close of this final 

1 The Campus Martius. ^ See page 157. 



CONDEMNATION OF MARCUS MANLIUS 173 

conflict, but not until the historian has exhibited to us 
Rome triumphant over her foes and the mistress of central 
Italy.^ 

1 Books xi-xx of Livy's history covering the seventy-three years (292-219 
B. c.) are lost. We must rely upon other writers for the events of this period, 
including the war with Tarentuni which ended in the subjugation of southern 
Italy (282-272 B.C.), and the First Punic War (264-241 B.C.) which added 
Sicily to the Roman dominions. 



CHAPTER XV 
HANNIBAL AND THE GREAT PUNIC WARi 

Of the many chapters in Livy's history of Rome, 
none are more memorable than those which relate the 
long and checkered story of the Second Punic War.^ The 
theme is the life and death struggle of two proud and power- 
ful nations for the dominion of the world. The hero is 
Hannibal, the supreme military genius of his age. Rome, 
at first helpless against his attack, is brought to the 
very verge of destruction. Nor does her final triumph 
detract from the grandeur of her foe. In all the episodes 
of this wonderful period, there stands out the royal figure 
of the mighty Carthaginian, waging on an ahen soil and 
against overwhelming odds, the most famous contest in 
antiquity. 

78. Passage of the Alps ^ 

The contest arose as the result of Hannibal's capture 
of the Spanish city of Saguntum. Since this place was 
protected by a treaty with Rome, Hannibal's action was 
regarded by the Romans as a direct provocation to war. 
The Carthaginian Senate refused to disavow the brilHant 
exploit of their young commander. Rome at once de- 
clared war (218 B. c). In the summer of the same year, 
Hannibal began the invasion of Italy. The route led from 

^ Livy, History of Rome, books xxi-xxv. The Second Punic War, 
translated by A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb. London, 1883. Macmillan 
and Co. 

2 Books xxi-xxx cover the entire period of the war (218-201 b. c). 

« Livy, xxi, 32, 35, 37. 



PASSAGE OF THE ALPS 175 

Spain through the passes of the Pyrenees and across the 
Rhone to the foot of the Alps. 

, , . From the Druentia ^ Hannibal marched through a 
country generally fiat to the Alps, wholly unmolested by the 
Gauls in those parts. And then, though rumor which usually 
magnifies the unknown far beyond truth, had given some 
anticipation of the facts, still the near sight of the mountain 
heights with their snows almost mingling with the sky, the rude 
huts perched on the rocks, cattle and beasts of burden shriveled 
with cold, human beings unkempt and wild, and all things ani- 
mate and inanimate stiffened with frost, with other scenes more 
horrible to behold than to describe, revived their terror. . . . 

On the ninth day they reached the top of the Alps, passing 
for the most part over trackless steeps, and by devious ways, 
into which they were led by the treachery of their guides. Two 
days they encamped on the height, and the men, worn out with 
hardships and fighting, were allowed to rest. Some beasts of 
burden, also, which had fallen down among the crags, found 
their way to the camp by following the army's track. The men 
were already worn out and wearied with their many miseries, 
when a heavy fall of snow added to their sufferings. At day- 
break the march commenced, and as the army moved wearily 
over ground all buried in snow, languor and despair were visibly 
written on every face. Then Hannibal stepped to the front, 
and having ordered a halt on a peak which commanded a wide 
and distant prospect, he pointed to Italy and to the plains round 
the Po, as they lay beneath the heights of the Alps. "These are 
the walls," he told his men, "not of Italy only but of Rome itself 
that you are now scahng. What remains," he added, "will be 
a smooth descent; in one, or at the most, in two battles we shall 
have the citadel and capital of Italy in our grasp and power." 

The army then began to advance, and now even the enemy 
attempted nothing but some stealthy ambuscades, as oppor- 
tunity offered. The remainder, however, of the march proved 

^ One of the eastern tributaries of the Rhone. 



176 HANNIBAL AND THE GREAT PUNIC WAR 

far more difficult than the ascent, as the Alps on the Italian 
side have a shorter, and therefore a steei)er, slope. In fact the 
whole way was precipitous, narrow, and slippery, so much so 
that they could not keep thcMnselves from falling, or could those 
who had once stumbled retain their foothold. Thus they fell 
over one another and the beasts of burden over the men. . . . 

At last, when both men and animals were worn out with 
fruitless exertion, they encamped on a height, in a spot which 
with the utmost difficulty they had cleared of the snow. The 
soldiers were then marched ofi" to the work of making a road 
through the rock, as there only was a passage possible. Having 
to cut into the stone, they heaped up a huge pile of wood from 
great trees in the neighborhood, which tliey had felled and 
lopped. As soon as there was strength enough in the wind to 
create a blaze, they lighted Ihe pile, and melted tlie rock, as it 
heated, by pouring vinegar on it. The burning stone was then 
cleft open wilh iron implements. . . . Four days were spent 
in this rocky pass, and the beasts almost perished of hunger, 
as the heights generally are cjuite bare and such herbage as 
grows is buried in snow. 

Amid the lower slopes were valleys, sunny hills, too, and 
streams and woods. These were spots now at last more 
worthy to be the habitations of man. Here they sent the 
beasts to feed, and the men, worn out with the toil of road- 
making, were allowed to rest. In the ne.xt three days they 
reached level ground, and now the country was less wild, as was 
also the character of the inhabitants.' 

79. Dictatorship of Fabius Maximus" 

The long march was at an end. Hannibal at last stood 
on Italian soil. Of his original army scarcely thirty thou- 

' The particular pass by which IIannil)al cMitcrod Italy cannot be iden- 
tified from Livy's narrative. The author's dcscri])tion is powerfully writ- 
ten, but it is not the account of an eyewitness and participant in the 
experiences described. 

' Livy, xxii, 7-9, 16-17. 



DICTATORSHIP OF FABIUS MAXIMUS 177 

sand men remained, with whom to meet and master the 
gigantic power of his adversary. But if the Romans were 
inclined to regard the invaders with hauglity scorn, they 
were soon undeceived. Two battles in northern Italy, 
one on the banks of the Ticinus, the other at the river 
Trebia, were complete victories for the Carthaginians 
(218 B. c). The next year Hannibal crossed the Apen- 
nines, entered Etruria, and totally defeatetl the consul 
Flaminius at Lake Trasimenus. 

... At Rome the first tidings of this (k-foat brouglit a terror- 
stricken and tumultuous cn)wd into the Forum. The matrons 
wandered through the streets and asked all whom they niet 
what was'this disaster of which news had just arrived, and how 
the army had fared. A crowd, thick as a thronged assembly, 
with eyes intent upon the Senate-house, called aloud for the 
magistrates. At last, not long before sunset, the prictor, 
Marcus Pomponius, said, "We have been beaten in a great 
battle." Nothing more definite than this was stated by him; 
but each man had reports without end to tell his neighbor. 
The news which they carried back to their homes was that the 
consul had perished with a great part of his trooj)s, that the few 
who had survived were either dispersed throughout Etruria or 
taken ])risoners by the enemy. . . . 

. . . The country hastily betook itself to a remedy which had 
not been either wanted or employed for many years — the 
creation of a dictator. But the consul was absent, and it was 
the consul only, it would seem, who could create him. It was 
no easy matter to send him a messenger or a letter, with 
the Carthaginian armies in possession of Italy; nor could the 
Senate make a dictator without consulting the people. In the 
end a step wholly unprecedented was taken. The peoi)le 
created Quintus Fabius Maximus dictator. 'I'he Senate 
charged him to strengthen the walls and towers of the city, to 
put garrisons in whatever places he thought best, and to 



178 HANNIBAL AND THE GREAT PUNIC WAR 

break down the bridges over the rivers. Italy they could 
not defend, but they could still fight for their city and their 
homes. . . . 

... On the day that Fabius Maximus, who was now dictator 
for the second time, entered upon his office, he convoked the 
Senate. He began with mention of the gods. It was, he 
proved to the senators, in neglect of religious rites and auspices 
rather than in rashness and want of skill, that the error of 
Flaminius had lain. Heaven itself, he urged, must be asked 
how the anger of heaven could be propitiated. He thus pre- 
vailed upon them to do what is scarcely ever done except when 
the most sinister marvels have been observed, that is, to order 
the Ten to consult the books of the Sibyl.^ They inspected the 
volumes of destiny, and reported to the Senate that, since a 
vow to Mars was the cause of the war, this vow, not having 
been duly performed, must be performed anew and on a larger 
scale. Moreover, they announced that games of the first class 
must be vowed to Jupiter, and a temple to Venus and another 
to Reason erected. There must also be a public litany, a 
banquet of the gods, and a year of consecration vowed, if the 
arms of Rome were to prosper and the state to remain in the 
same position which it had occupied before the war. The 
Senate, knowing that Fabius would be occupied with the busi- 
ness of the campaign, directed the praetor, Marcus iEmilius, 
who had been nominated by the college of pontiffs, to see all 
things speedily done. . . . 

Instead of attacking Rome, Hannibal crossed the pen- 
insula to the Adriatic and marched into Apulia. Fabius, 
with a new army, now appeared in his rear. The Roman 
dictator followed Hannibal's movements but refused to 

^ According to the legend, the Sibyl, a priestess of Apollo at Cumae, 
had sold to King Tarquinius Superbus three books of prophecies concern- 
ing the future of Rome. These books, a Greek collection of sacred verse, 
were in charge of a body of priests who consulted them whenever the Roman 
state was in especial danger. 



DICTATORSHIP OF FABIUS MAXIMUS 179 

fight a pitched battle. It was at this time that the Cartha- 
ginian army, having been placed in a dangerous position, 
was extricated in a remarkable manner. 

To deceive his foe, Hannibal contrived an optical illusion of 
most alarming appearance, and resolved to move stealthily up 
the hills at nightfall. The deception was thus arranged. Fire- 
wood was collected from all the country around, and bundles 
of twigs and dry faggots were fastened to the horns of oxen 
from the plundered rural districts. . . . Nearly two thousand 
oxen were thus treated, and Hasdrubal was intrusted with the 
business of driving this herd, with their horns alight, upon the 
hills, especially to those above the passes occupied by the 
enemy. 

In the dusk of evening, Hasdrubal silently struck his camp. 
. . . When the Carthaginians reached the foot of the mountain, 
where the roads narrowed, the signal was immediately given 
to hurry the herd with their horns alight up the slope of the hills. 
The animals rushed on, goaded into madness by the terror of 
the flames which flashed from their heads, and by the heat 
which soon reached the flesh at the root of their horns. At this 
sudden rush all the thickets seemed to be in a blaze, and the very 
woods and mountains to have been fired. When the beasts 
vainly shook their heads, it seemed as if men were running about 
in every direction. The troops posted in the pass, seeing fires 
on the hilltops and above them, fancied that they had been 
surrounded, and left their position. They made for the loftiest 
heights as being their safest route, for it was there that the fewest 
flashes of light were visible. But even there they fell in with 
some of the oxen which had strayed from the herd. When 
they saw them at a distance, they stood thunder-struck at what 
seemed to be the miracle of oxen breathing fire. As soon as it 
was seen to be nothing but a human contrivance, they suspected 
some deep stratagem and fled in wilder confusion than ever. . . . 
Hannibal, meanwhile, had led his whole army through the pass, 
cutting off, as he went, some of his opponents. 



i8o HANNIBAL AND THE GREAT PUNIC WAR 

80. Battle of Cannae i 

The policy of delay followed by Fabius was so far suc- 
cessful that it compelled Hannibal to go into winter quar- 
ters without inflicting upon the Romans another signal 
defeat. The next year (216 b. c), Rome made prepara- 
tions for a decisive conflict with the invader. The cau- 
tious tactics of the dictator were abandoned. Varro and 
iEmihus Paulus, the two consuls for the year, with eighty 
thousand troops, met the Carthaginians at Cannae on 
the Aufidus. The two consuls commanded on alternate 
days. Paulus steadily refused to risk an engagement. 
Varro, when his turn came, with that rashness that had 
already cost the Romans so dear, staked all upon a single 
throw. He led out his troops and offered battle. Han- 
nibal at once accepted the challenge. 

At dawn Hannibal sent in advance his slingers and light- 
armed troops and crossed the river. To each division, as it 
crossed, he assigned its position. His Gallic and Spanish cavalry 
he posted near the river bank on the left wing, facing the Roman 
horse. The right wing was given to the Numidian cavalry. 
The center showed a strong force of infantry, having on either 
side the African troops, with the Gauls and Spaniards between 
them. These Africans might have been taken for a Roman 
force; so largely were they equipped with weapons taken at 
Trebia, and yet more at Trasimenus. The Gauls and Spaniards 
had shields of very nearly the same shape, but their swords were 
widely different in size and form. The Gauls had them very 
long and pointless, while the Spaniards, who were accustomed 
to assail the enemy with thrusts rather than with blows, had 
them short, handy, and pointed. These nations had a specially 
terrible appearance, so gigantic was their stature and so strange 
their look. The Gauls were naked above the middle; the 
^ Livy, xxii, 46, 49-50. 



BATTLE OF CANNAE 



i»i 



Spaniards wore tunics of linen bordered with purple, of a white- 
ness marvelously dazzling. The total number of the infantry 
who were that day ranged in line was forty thousand, that of 
the cavalry, ten thousand. Hasdrubal commanded the left 
wing; Maharbal the right; Hannibal himself, with his brother 
Mago, was in the center. The sun — whether the troops were 
purposely so placed or whether it was by chance — fell very 
conveniently sideways on both armies, the Romans facing the 
south, the Carthaginians the north. The wind, however, blew 
straight against the Romans and whirled clouds of dust into their 
faces till they could see nothing. . . . 

The battle was stubbornly contested but at length 
turned in favor of the Carthaginians. 

Paulus was on the other side of the field. He had been 
seriously wounded at the very beginning of the battle by a 
bullet from a sling. Yet he repeatedly encountered Hannibal 
with a compact body of troops, and at several points restored the 
fortune of the day. He was protected by the Roman cavalry, 
which at last sent away their horses when the consul became too 
weak to manage his charger. Some one told Hannibal that the 
consul had ordered the cavalry to dismount. "He might better 
hand them over to me bound hand and foot," said he. The 
horsemen fought on foot as men were likely to fight, when, the 
victory of the enemy being beyond all doubt, the vanquished 
preferred dying where they stood, to flight. . . . All were soon 
scattered, and such as were able, sought to recover their horses 
and fly. 

Lentulus, as he galloped by, saw the consul sitting on a stone 
and covered with blood. "Lucius iEmilius," he cried, " the one 
man whom heaven must regard as guiltless of this day's calamity, 
take this horse while you have some strength left, and I am here 
to be with you, to lift you to the saddle, and to defend you. Do 
not make our defeat yet sadder by a consul's death. There is 
weeping and sorrow enough without that." The consul repUed, 



i82 HANNIBAL AND THE GREAT PUNIC WAR 

"It is a brave thought of thine, CorneHus; but waste not in 
fruitless pity the few moments you have for escaping from the 
enemy. My pubHc message to the senators is that they must 
fortify Rome and make its garrison as strong as possible before 
the victorious enemy arrives. My private message to Quintus 
Fabius is that Lucius ^milius remembered his teaching in life 
and death. As for me, let me breathe my last among my 
slaughtered soldiers. I would not again leave my consulship 
to answer for my life, nor would I stand up to accuse my col- 
league, and by accusing another, protect my own innocence." 
While they thus talked together, they were overtaken, first by 
a crowd of Roman fugitives and then by the enemy. The 
latter buried the consul under a shower of javelins, not know- 
ing who he was. Lentulus galloped off in the confusion. 

The Romans now fled wildly in every direction. Seven 
thousand men escaped into the smaller, ten thousand into the 
larger, camp, ten thousand more into the village of Cannae 
itself. These last were immediately surrounded by the Car- 
thaginian cavalry, for no fortification protected the place. The 
other consul, who, whether by chance or of set purpose, had not 
joined any large body of fugitives, fled with about five hundred 
horsemen to Venusia.^ Forty-five thousand five hundred in- 
fantry, two thousand seven hundred cavalry, and almost as 
many more citizens and allies are said to have fallen. Among 
these were the quaestors of both consuls, twenty-nine tribunes 
of the soldiers, not a few ex-consuls, ex-praetors, and ex- 
aediles . . . and eighty who were either actual senators or had 
filled such offices as made them eligible for the Senate. . . . 

Such was the battle of Cannae, as famous as the disaster at 
the AUia,^ and though less serious in its consequences, thanks 
to the inaction of the enemy, yet in loss of men still more ruinous 
and disgraceful. The flight at the Allia lost the city but saved 
the army. At Cannae the consul who fled was followed by 

1 A town of Apulia not far from Cannae. 

^ Referring to the defeat of Romans by the Gauls in 390 B. c. See 
page 168. 



AFTER CANNiE 183 

barely fifty men ; with the consul who perished, perished nearly 
the whole army. . . . 

81. After Cannae 1 

Round the victorious Hannibal crowded his officers with 
congratulations and entreaties that, since this mighty war was 
finished, he should take what remained of that day and the 
following night for rest, and give the same to his wearied soldiers. 
Maharbal, the general of his cavalry, thought that there should 
be no pause. "Nay," he cried, "you are aware what has 
been achieved by this victory. You can hold a conqueror's 
feast in the Capitol within five days. Pursue them; I will go 
before you with my cavalry, and they shall know that you have 
come before they knovv^ you are coming." Hannibal felt that 
his success was too great for him to be able to realize it at the 
moment. "I commend," he said, "Maharbal's zeal, but I 
must take time to deliberate." Maharbal replied, "Well, the 
gods do not give all gifts to one man. Hannibal, you know how 
to conquer; not how to use a conquest." That day's delay is 
believed to have saved Rome and its empire. . . . 

At Rome report said. . . that the army with the two consuls 
had been utterly destroyed, and that the whole force had ceased 
to exist. Never before, with Rome itself still safe, had there 
been such panic and confusion within our walls. I shall decline 
the task of attempting a lengthened description which could 
not but be far inferior to the truth. The year before, a consul 
with his army had fallen at Trasimenus; it was not wound after 
wound, but multiplied disasters that were announced. Two con- 
suls and the armies of two consuls had perished. Rome had 
now no camp, no general, no soldiers. Hannibal was master of 
Apulia, of Samnium, of nearly the whole of Italy. Certainly 
there was not a nation in the world which would not have been 
overwhelmed by such a weight of calamity. . . . 

How greatly this disaster surpassed all previous disasters is 
clearly shown by the fact that the loyalty of our allies, steadfast 
1 Livy, xxii, 51, 54, 61. 



1 84 HANNIBAL AND THE GREAT PUNIC WAR 

until that day, now began to waver. It was simply, indeed, 
because they despaired of the maintenance of our empire. Yet 
all these disasters and defections never made the Romans so 
much as mention peace, either before the consul ^ went back to 
Rome, or after his return had renewed the remembrance of the 
terrible loss sustained. On this latter occasion, indeed, such was 
the high spirit of the country, that, when the consul returned 
after this great disaster of which he had himself been the chief 
cause, all classes went in crowds to meet him. He was publicly 
thanked because "he had not despaired of the commonwealth." 
Had he been a Carthaginian general, they knew that there was 
no torture which he would not have had to suffer. 

The battle of Canrice was Hannibal's last and greatest 
triumph. The war did not end here. Hannibal was to 
lead his Carthaginians for thirteen years longer, up and 
down the length of Italy, capturing her towns, devastat- 
ing her lands, but unable to take the Roman city itself. 
Step by step Rome recovered her strength. At length 
Scipio's invasion of Africa compelled the Carthaginian 
Senate to recall Hannibal for the defense of Carthage. 
His defeat by Scipio at the battle of Zama (202 b. c.) ended 
the Second Punic War. Peace was declared with Car- 
thage, but not with Hannibal. He fled from his native 
country, and after many wanderings, took refuge at the 
court of Prusias, the king of Bithynia in Asia Minor. 
Thither came Flamininus, sent from Rome to demand the 
surrender of her ancient enemy. "The Carthaginian 
had always foreseen some such end of his life; for he knew 
the implacable hatred which the Romans bore him, and 
placed Httle confidence in the faith of kings. Besides, 
he had experienced the fickle temper of Prusias, and had, 
for some time, dreaded the arrival of Flamininus, as an 

^ Varro. 



AFTER CANN^ 185 

event fatal to him. Encircled by enemies on every side, 
in order to have always some path open for fhght, he had 
made seven passages from his house, of which some were 
concealed, lest they might be invested by a guard. But 
the imperious government of kings suffers nothing to re- 
main secret which should be discovered. The circuit of 
the entire house was surrounded with guards, in such a 
manner that no one could escape from it. Hannibal, on 
being told that some of the king's soldiers were in the 
porch, endeavored to escape through a back door, which 
was the most private, and from which the passage was 
most secret. Perceiving that door, also, to be guarded 
by a body of soldiers, and every avenue round to 
be blocked up by the guards, he called for poison, which 
he had long kept in readiness to meet such an event, 
and said, 'Let us release the Romans from their anxiety, 
since they think it too long to wait for the death 
of an old man.^ Flamininus will gain no very great or 
memorable victory over one unarmed and betrayed. 
What an alteration has taken place in the behavior of the 
Roman people, this day affords abundant proof. Their 
fathers gave warning to Pyrrhus, their armed foe, then 
heading an army against them in Italy, to beware of poison. 
The present generation have sent an ambassador, of con- 
sular rank, to persuade Prusias villainously to murder his 
guest.' Then, imprecating curses on the head of Prusias 
and on his kingdom, and calHng on the gods who presided 
over hospitaHty and were witnesses of his breach of faith, 
he drank off the contents of the cup. This was the end 
of the life of Hannibal." ^ 

1 Hannibal was then (184 B. c.) sixty-three years of age. 
* Livy, xxxix, 51. 



CHAPTER XVI 
CATO THE CENSOR: A ROMAN OF THE OLD SCHOOL i 

Plutarch's ^ life of Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149 
B. c.) describes a statesman and moralist who lived during 
the period when Roman society was undergoing a series 
of profound and far-reaching changes. The influx of Greek 
ideas and Greek customs that followed the Second Punic 
War and Rome's conquests in the eastern Mediterranean, 
threatened to overthrow those earher ideals of simplicity 
and honesty, of industry and economy, of patriotism and 
fidelity to the state, the possession of which had distin- 
guished the Romans above all other ancient peoples. Cato 
spent his entire Hfe in an endeavor to stem this revolution- 
ary tide, and to turn his countrymen back into the old 
paths wherein their forefathers had walked so long. It 
was because Rome had once been the home of many men 
like Cato that the city had risen to her position of impe- 
rial power. In himself Cato summed up the qualities — 
often very unlovely quahties — that made Rome, great 
among the nations. 

82, Anecdotes of his Public Career * 

Cato grew very powerful by his eloquence, so that he was 
commonly called the Roman Demosthenes. But his manner of 
life was yet more famous. For oratorical skill was, as an accom- 

^ PhUarch's Lives of Illustrious Men. The Dryden translation, revised 
by A. H. Clough. Boston, 1859. Little, Brown, and Co. 
* For a notice of Plutarch see page 98. 
^ Plutarch, Marcus Cato, 4, 6-9. 



ANECDOTES OF HIS PUBLIC CAREER 187 

plishment, commonly studied and sought after by all young 
men. It was, however, very rare for a man to cultivate the old 
habits of bodily labor, or to prefer a light supper and a breakfast 
which never saw the fire; or to be in love with poor clothes and 
a homely lodging, or to set his ambition rather on doing without 
liLxuries than on possessing them. . . . With reason, therefore, 
everybody admired Cato. When they saw others sink under 
labors, and grow effeminate by pleasures, they beheld him 
unconquered by either, and this, not only when he was young 
and desirous of honor, but also when old and gray-headed, after 
a consulship and triumph. He was like some famous victor in 
the Olympic games, persevering in his exercise and maintaining 
his character to the very last. . . . 

For his general temperance and self-control, he really de- 
serves the greatest credit. When he commanded the army, he 
never took for himself and for those that belonged to him, above 
three bushels of wheat for a month, and somewhat less than 
a bushel and a half a day of barley for his baggage-cattle. 
When he entered upon the government of Sardinia, where his 
predecessors had been used to require tents, bedding, and clothes 
upon the public account, and to charge the state heavily with 
the cost of pro^dsions and entertainments for a great train of 
servants and friends, the difference Cato showed in his economy 
was something incredible. There was nothing of any sort for 
which he would put the public to expense. He would walk 
without a carriage to visit the cities, with only one of the common 
town officers, who carried his dress and a cup with which to 
offer libations. Yet, though he seemed thus easy and sparing 
to all who were under his power, he, on the other hand, showed 
most inflexible severity and strictness in what related to public 
justice. . . . The Roman government never appeared more 
terrible or yet more mild, than under his administration. 

His manner of speaking was courteous, yet forcible; pleasant, 
yet overwhelming; facetious, yet austere; sententious, yet 
vehement. He was like Socrates, in the description of Plato, 
who seemed outwardly to those about him to be but a simple, 



i88 CATO THE CENSOR 

talkative, blunt fellow; though at the bottom he was full of 
such gravity and matter, as would even move tears and touch 
the very hearts of his auditors. . . . We must now write down 
some of Cato's memorable sayings; being of the opinion that a 
man's character appears much more by his words, than by his 
looks. 

Being once anxious to dissuade the common people of Rome, 
from their unseasonable and impetuous clamor for gifts and 
distributions of corn, he began thus to harangue them, "It is a 
difficult task, citizens, to make speeches to the stomach, which 
has no ears." Reproving, also, their sumptuous habits, he said 
that it was hard to preserve a city, where a fish sold for more 
than an ox. He had a saying, also, that the Roman people were 
likt sheep; for they, when single, do not obey, but when to- 
gether in a flock, they follow their leaders. "So you," said he, 
"when you have got together in a body, let yourselves be guided 
by those whom singly you would never think of being advised 
by." Discoursing on the power of women, he remarked, "Men 
usually command women; but we command all men, and the 
women command us". . . . 

The Romans once dispatched three ambassadors to Bithynia,^ 
of whom one was gouty, another had his skull trepanned, and 
the other seemed httle better than a fool. Hereupon, Cato said 
that the Romans had sent an embassy which had neither feet, 
head, nor heart. His interest was once entreated by Scipio,^ 
on account of Polybius, for the Achaean exiles. There happened 
to be a great discussion in the Senate about it, some being for, 
and some against, their return. Cato, standing up, thus de- 
livered himself, "Here we sit all day long, as if we had 
nothing to do but beat our brains whether these old Greeks 
should be carried to their graves by the bearers here, or by those 

' Bithynia, a division of Asia Minor, was at this time an independent 
kingdom. 

2 Publius Cornelius Scipio ^milianus. His friend Polybius, famous 
as the historian of Rome, was one of the looo Greek hostages brought from 
Achaea in 167 b. c. and detained in Italy for sixteen years. 



CATO'S CENSORSHIP 189 

inAchsea. " . . . He used to assert, also, that wise men profited 
more by fools, than fools by wise men; since wise men avoided 
the faults of fools, but fools would not imitate the good examples 
of wise men. He would profess, too, that he was more taken 
with young men who blushed, than with those who looked pale; 
and that he never desired to have a soldier who moved his hands 
too much in marching, and his feet too much in fighting; or 
snored louder than he shouted. . . . When one who was much 
given to the pleasures of the table desired his acquaintance, 
Cato answered that he could not live with a man whose palate 
was of a quicker sense than his heart. He would likewise say. . . 
that in his whole life he most repented of three things: one, that 
he had trusted a secret to a woman; another, that he went by 
water when he might have gone by land; the third, that he 
had remained one whole day without doing any business of 
importance. . . . 

83. Cato's Censorship 1 

... He gave most general annoyance while censor by re- 
trenching people's luxury ; for ... he caused all dress, carriages, 
women's ornaments and household furniture, of which the price 
exceeded a certain value, to be rated at ten times as much as 
they were worth. By thus making the assessments greater, he 
intended to increase the taxes paid upon them. ... 

. . . Cato also caused the pipes, through which some persons 
brought the public water into their own houses and gardens, 
to be cut, and threw down all buildings which jutted out into 
the common streets. He beat down, also, the price in contracts 
for public works to the lowest, and raised it in contracts for 
farming the taxes ^ to the highest sum. By such proceedings 
he drew a great deal of hatred on himself. . . . 

However the people liked his censorship wondrously well. 
Setting up a statue for him in the temple of the goddess of 
Health, they put an inscription under it. The latter did not 
record his commands in war or his triumph. It was to the 

^ Plutarch, Marcus Cato, 18-19. ^ See page loi, note 2. 



I90 CATO THE CENSOR 

effect, that this was Cato the Censor, who, by his good discipline 
and wise and temperate ordinances, reclaimed the Roman 
commonwealth when it was sinking down into vice. Before 
this honor was done to himself, he used to laugh at those who 
loved such things. He said that they did not see that they 
were taking pride in the workmanship of brass-founders and 
painters; whereas the citizens bore about his best likeness in 
their breasts. And when anyone seemed to wonder that he 
should have never a statue, though many ordinary persons had 
one, he said, "I would much rather be asked, why I have no 
statue, than why I have one." In short, he could not endure to 
have any honest citizen praised, unless it might prove advan- 
tageous to the commonwealth. . . . 

84. Cato in His Family i 

Cato was a good father, an excellent husband to his wife, and 
an extraordinary economist. . . . He married a wife more noble 
than rich. He was of the opinion that the rich and the high- 
born are equally haughty and proud; but that those of noble 
blood would be more ashamed of base things, and consequently 
more obedient to their husbands in all that was fit and right. 
A man who beat his wife or child, laid violent hands, he said, 
on what was most sacred. A good husband he reckoned worthy 
of more praise than a great senator. He admired the ancient 
Socrates for nothing so much, as for having lived a temperate 
and contented life with a wife who was a scold, and with chil- 
dren who were half-witted. 

As soon as he had a son born . . . he would be present when his 
wife washed it, and dressed it in its swaddling clothes. . . . When 
the child began to reach years of discretion, Cato would teach 
him to read, although he had a servant, a very good grammarian, 
who taught many others. Cato, however, thought it not fit 
to have his son reprimanded by a slave, or pulled, it may be, 
by the ears, when found backward in his lesson. Nor would he 
^ Plutarch, Marcus Cato, 20. 



LATER LIFE 191 

have him owe to a servant the obUgation of so great a thing as 
his learning. Cato, therefore, taught his son grammar, law, and 
gymnastic exercises. He showed him, too, how to throw a dart, 
to fight in armor, and to ride, how to box, how to endure both 
heat and cold, and how to swim over the most rapid and rough 
rivers. He says, likewise, that he wrote histories, in large char- 
acters, with his own hand, so that his son might learn to know 
about his countrymen and forefathers. Nor did he less abstain 
from speaking anything obscene before his son, than if it had 
been in the presence of the sacred virgins, called vestals. . . . 
Thus, like an excellent work, Cato formed and fashioned his son 
to virtue; nor had he any occasion to find fault with his readiness 
and docility. . . . 

85. Later Life^ 

Some consider the overthrow of Carthage ^ to have been one 
of Cato's last acts of statesmanship. . . . The war, chiefly by the 
counsel and advice of Cato, was undertaken on the following 
occasion. Cato was sent to the Carthaginians and to Masi- 
nissa, king of Numidia, to learn why they were enemies and at 
war with each other. Masinissa, it seems, had been a friend 
of the Romans from the beginning. The Carthaginians, also, 
since their conquest by Scipio, were of the Roman confederacy, 
having been shorn of their power by loss of territory and a 
heavy tax. When he found Carthage, not (as the Romans 
thought) low and in an ill condition, but well manned, full of 
riches and all sorts of arms and ammunition, Cato believed that 
it was not a time for the Romans to adjust affairs between them 
and Masinissa. He thought rather that they themselves would 
fall into danger, unless they should find means to check this 
rapid growth of Rome's ancient and irreconcilable enemy. 
Returning quickly to Rome, he informed the Senate that the 
former defeats and blows given to the Carthaginians had not 
so much diminished their strength, as it had abated their 
imprudence and folly. . . . 

^ Plutarch, Marcus Cato, 26-27. ^ By the Third Punic War, 149-146 B. c. 



192 CATO THE CENSOR 

Moreover, they say that, shaking his gown, he took occasion 
to let drop some African figs before the senators. On their admir- 
ing the size and beauty of them, he added, that the place that 
bore them was but three days' sail from Rome. Nay, he never 
after this made a speech but at the end he would be sure to 
come out with this sentence, "also carthage, methinks, 

OUGHT UTTERLY TO BE DESTROYED." But PubUuS Scipio 

Nasica would always declare his opinion to the contrary, in 
these words, "It seems requisite to me that Carthage should 
still stand. " . . . He looked upon the Carthaginians as too weak 
to overcome the Romans, and too great to be despised by them. 
On the other side, it seemed a perilous thing to Cato, that a city 
which had been always great, and was now grown sober and wise 
by reason of its former calamities, should still lie, as it were, in 
wait for the follies and dangerous excesses of the over-powerful 
Roman people. Hence he thought it the wisest course to have 
all outward dangers removed, when they had so many inward 
ones among themselves. 

Thus Cato, they say, stirred up the third and last war 
against the Carthaginians. No sooner was the said war 
begun, than he died. . . . 



CHAPTER XVII 
CICERO THE ORATOR 1 

After the death of Cato the Censor, some three quar- 
ters of a century elapsed before there came to the front 
the commanding personaHty of Cicero. Marcus Tullius 
Cicero (106-43 ^- c.) was the greatest orator and likewise 
the most eminent man of letters of his time. His place 
in Latin literature is as secure and unapproachable as his 
position among the few great statesmen whom republican 
Rome produced. He wrote copiously upon philosoph- 
ical subjects; he conducted an extensive correspondence 
which throws a flood of hght upon the condition of the 
age; and for more than thirty years he spoke constantly 
in the law courts, before the popular assemblies, and in 
the Senate. Nearly sixty of his speeches have come down 
to us. 

86. First Verrine Oration 2 

Cicero's reputation as an orator was securely estab- 
lished by his seven speeches against Verres, a former gov- 
ernor of Sicily. At the earnest request of the Sicilians, 
Cicero undertook the prosecution and was so successful that 
Hortensius, the famous advocate retained by Verres, threw 
up the case when Cicero had concluded his second ora- 
tion. Verres went into exile (70 B.C.). The five remaining 

^ The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, translated by C. D. Yonge. 
4 vols. London, 1851-1856. George Bell and Sons. 
^ Cicero, Against Verres, i, i, 3-5. 



194 CICERO THE ORATOR 

speeches of this series, though never delivered, were after- 
wards published by Cicero, in order that the evidence as 
to the misgovernment of Verres might be known to all 
the world. They afford a disheartening picture of the 
tyranny and oppression which the provincials could suffer 
under an unscrupulous governor. 

. . . An opinion has now become established, pernicious to us 
and pernicious to the republic . . . that in the courts of law as 
they exist at present no wealthy man, however guilty he may 
be, can possibly be convicted. Now, at this time of peril to your 
order ^ and to your tribunals, when men are ready to attempt by 
harangues and by the proposal of new laws, to increase the exist- 
ing unpopularity of the Senate, Gaius Verres is brought to trial 
as a criminal. He is a man condemned in the opinion of every 
one by his life and actions, but acquitted by the greatness of 
his wealth, according to his own hope and boast. 

I, O judges, have undertaken this cause as prosecutor with the 
sincerest good wishes and expectation on the part of the Roman 
people, not in order to increase the unpopularity of the Senate 
but to relieve it from the discredit which I share with it. For I 
have brought before you a man, by acting justly in whose case 
you have an opportunity of retrieving the lost credit of your 
judicial proceedings, of regaining your credit with the Roman 
people, and of giving satisfaction to foreign nations. . . . And if 
you come to a decision about this man with severity and a due 
regard to your oaths, that authority which ought to remain in 
you will cling to you still. If, however, that man's vast riches 
shall break down the sanctity and honesty of the courts of justice, 
at least I shall achieve this, that it shall be plain that it was 
rather honest judgment that was wanting to the republic, than 
a criminal to the judges, or an accuser to the criminal. . . . 

What are the circumstances on which Verres founds his hopes 
... I see clearly. But how he can have the confidence to think 

^ The judges at this period were taken from the senatorial order. 



FIRST VERRINE ORATION 195 

that he can effect anything with the present praetor and the 
present bench of judges, I cannot conceive. This one thing I 
know. . . that his hopes were of that nature that he placed all 
his expectations of safety in his money; and that if this protec- 
tion was taken from him, he thought nothing would be any help 
to him. . . . 

Verres has established great and numerous monuments and 
proofs of all his vices in the province of Sicily, which he for three 
years so harassed and ruined that it can by no possibility be 
restored to its former condition. It appears, indeed, scarcely 
able to recover at all after a long series of years. . . . While 
this man was praetor, the Sicilians enjoyed neither their own 
laws nor the decrees of our Senate nor the common rights of 
every nation. . . . No legal decision for three years was given on 
any other ground but his will. No property was so secure to 
any man, even if it had descended to him from his father and 
grandfather, but he was deprived of it at the command of Verres. 
Enormous sums of money were exacted from the property of the 
cultivators of the soil by a new and nefarious system. The 
most faithful of the allies were classed in the number of enemies. 
Roman citizens were tortured and put to death hke slaves. The 
worst criminals were acquitted in the courts of justice through 
bribery. . . . The most fortified harbors, the greatest and 
strongest cities, were laid open to pirates and robbers. The 
sailors and soldiers of the Sicilians, our own allies and friends, 
died of hunger. The best built fleets on the most important 
stations were lost and destroyed, to the great disgrace of the 
Roman people. This same man, while praetor, plundered and 
stripped those most ancient monuments, some erected by wealthy 
monarchs and intended by them as ornaments for their cities; 
some, too, the work of their own generals, which they either 
gave or restored as conquerors to the different states in Sicily. 
And he did this not only in the case of public statues and orna- 
ments, but he also plundered all the consecrated temples. In 
short, he did not leave to the Sicilians one god which appeared 
to him to be made in a tolerably workmanlike manner. . . . 



196 -CICERO THE ORATOR 

87. First Oration against Catiline ^ 

Perhaps the best known of all of Cicero's speeches are 
the four orations against Catiline, delivered in the year 
of his consulship, 63 b. c. Catiline, a ruined and disso- 
lute patrician, had formed a conspiracy which included 
the most vicious and desperate men of Italy, to overthrow 
the government, murder the magistrates, and estabHsh a 
tyranny upon the ruins of the repubhc. But the vigilant 
consul detected the plot and when the arch-conspirator 
boldly appeared in his seat in the Senate, he was met 
by the storm of fiery denunication which forms the First 
Oration against Catiline. 

When, O Catiline, do you mean to cease abusing our patience? 
How long is that madness of yours still to mock us? When is 
there to be an end of your unbridled audacity? Do not the 
nighdy guards placed on the Palatine Hill ^ — do not the watches 
posted throughout the city — do not the alarm of the people 
and the union of all good men — do not the precautions taken 
of assembling the Senate in this most defensible place — do nqt 
the looks and countenances of this venerable body here present, 
have any effect upon you? Do you not feel that your plans are 
detected? Do you not see that your conspiracy is already ar- 
rested and rendered powerless by the knowledge which every 
one here possesses of it? What is there that you did last night, 
what the night before — where is it that you were — whom 
did you summon to meet you — what design was there which 
was adopted by you, with which you think that anyone of us 
is unacquainted? 

Shame on the age and on its principles! The Senate is aware 
of these things; the consul sees them; and yet this man lives. 

^ Cicero, Against Catiline, i, 1-2, 13. 

* The Palatine Hill was the original seat of the city of Rome. In Cic- 
ero's day, after the city had spread gradually over the other hills in the 
neighborhood, the Palatine became the fashionable quarter of Rome. 



■ FIRST ORATION AGAINST CATILINE 197 

Lives! ay, he comes even into the Senate. He takes a part in 
the public deliberations; he is watching and marking down and 
checking off for slaughter every individual among us. And we, 
gallant men that we are, think that we are doing our duty 
to the repubUc if we keep out of the way of his frenzied 
attacks. . . . 

I wish, O conscript fathers, to be merciful; I wish not to 
appear negligent amid such danger to the state; but I do now 
accuse myself of remissness and culpable inactivity. A camp is 
pitched in Italy, at the entrance of Etruria, in hostility to the 
republic. The number of the enemy increases daily. And 
yet the general of that camp, the leader of those enemies, we see 
within the walls — ay, and even in the Senate — planning every 
day some internal injury to the republic. If, O Catiline, I 
should now order you to be arrested, and to be put to death, I 
should, I suppose, have to fear lest all good men should say that 
I had acted tardily, rather than that anyone should af36rm that 
I had acted cruelly. But what ought to have been done long 
ago, I have good reason for not doing as yet. I will put you 
to death only when there cannot be found a single person so 
wicked, so abandoned, so like yourself, as not to admit that it 
has been rightly done. As long as one person exists who dares to 
defend you, you shall live. But you shall live as you do now, 
surrounded by my trusty guards, so that you shall not be able 
to stir one finger against the republic. Many eyes and ears 
shall still observe and watch you, as they have hitherto done, 
though you shall not perceive them. . . . 

Take yourself off, O Catiline, to your impious and nefarious 
war, to the great safety of the republic, to your own misfortune 
and injury, and to the destruction of those who have joined 
themselves to you in every wickedness and atrocity. Then do 
you, Jupiter, who were consecrated by Romulus with the 
same auspices as this city, whom we rightly call the stay of this 
city and empire, repel this man and his companions from your 
altars and from the other temples — from the houses and walls 
of the city — from the lives and fortunes of all the citizens. 



igS CICERO THE ORATOR 

And overwhelm all the enemies of good men, the foes of the 
republic, the robbers of Italy . . . with eternal punishments. 

88. Second Oration against Catiline ^ 

When Catiline ventured to reply to Cicero's accusa- 
tions, he was interrupted by cries of "traitor" and ''par- 
ricide" from the angry senators. Rushing from the 
chamber, he took refuge with his friends outside the city 
and proceeded to the army awaiting him in Etruria. 
The next day Cicero assembled the people and announced 
Catiline's departure in a triumphant speech. 

At length, O Romans, we have dismissed from the city, or 
driven out, or, when he was departing of his own accord, we have 
pursued with words, Lucius Catiline, mad with audacity, breath- 
ing wickedness, impiously planning mischief to his country, 
threatening fire and sword to you and to this city. He has gone, 
he has departed, he has disappeared, he has rushed out. No 
injury will now be prepared against these walls, within the walls 
themselves, by that monster and prodigy of wickedness. And 
we have, without controversy, defeated him, the sole general of 
this domestic war. For now that dagger will no longer hover 
about our sides. We shall not be afraid in the Campus Martius, 
in the Forum, in the Senate-house — ay, and within our own 
private walls. He was moved from his place when he was driven 
from the city. Now we shall openly wage without hindrance 
a regular war with an enemy. Beyond all question we shall ruin 
the man. We have defeated him splendidly when we have 
driven him from secret treachery into open warfare. But that 
he has not taken with him his sword red with blood as he in- 
tended — that he has left us alive — that we wrested the weapon 
from his hands — that he has left the citizens safe and the city 
standing, what great and overwhelming grief must you think 
that this is to him ! Now he lies prostrate, O Romans, and feels 
^ Cicero, Against Catiline, ii, i. 



THE SECOND PHILIPPIC 199 

himself stricken down and abject, and often casts back his eyes 
toward this city, which he mourns over as snatched from his 
jaws, but which seems to me to rejoice at having thrown forth 
such a pest and cast it out of doors. 

After the departure of Catiline, Cicero arrested those 
of his associates who remained in Rome. Then, in a third 
speech, also addressed to the people, the consul described 
the steps he had taken to implicate them in the conspir- 
acy. His fourth and final oration, delivered before the 
Senate, dealt with the fate of the prisoners. Cscsar ar- 
gued for their imprisonment, but Cicero beheved that 
they should be put to death. The consul's advice was 
taken and the conspirators were strangled in their under- 
ground prison. Not long after, Catiline and his entire 
army were put to the sword. Cicero's success in saving 
the state made him for a time the most eminent man 
in Rome. The grateful citizens saluted him as Pater 
PatricB, "Father of his Fatherland." 

89. The Second Philippic 1 

After the assassination of Cassar in 44 b. c, a new ty- 
rant in the person of Antony succeeded to Caesar's power 
at Rome. Though Cicero had taken no part in the plot 
against Caesar, he approved of it and he now determined 
that Antony should not long enjoy his position of virtual 
dictator. As leader of the Senate, Cicero dehvered during 
the next few months a series of fourteen orations against 
Antony. These orations, from their likeness to the speeches 
of Demosthenes against Philip of Macedonia,^ have always 
been known as Philippics. The Second Philippic is gen- 
erally esteemed the masterpiece of Cicero's eloquence. Cir- 
cumstances prevented its delivery in the Senate. Cicero, 

^ Cicero, Philippics, ii, 44-46. ^ See page 129. 



200 CICERO THE ORATOR 

however, wrote it out and circulated it among his friends. 
In the following passage, concluding the oration, he implores 
Antony not to tread in Caesar's footsteps. 

. . . The name of peace is sweet, the thing itself is most 
salutary. But between peace and slavery there is a wide differ- 
ence. Peace is Uberty in tranquiUity; slavery is the worst of all 
evils — to be repelled, if need be, not only by war, but even by 
death. But if those deliverers of ours have taken themselves 
away out of our sight, still they have left behind the example of 
their conduct. They have done what no one else has done. 
Brutus pursued Tarquinius/ who was a king when it was lawful 
for a king to exist in Rome. Spurius Cassius,^ Spurius Maehus,' 
and Marcus Manlius * were all slain because they were suspected 
of aiming at regal power. These are the first men who have ever 
ventured to attack, sword in hand, a man who was not aiming at 
regal power, but actually reigning. And their action is not only 
of itself a glorious and godlike exploit, but it is also one put forth 
for our imitation ; especially since by it they have acquired such 
glory as appears hardly to be bounded by heaven itself. . . . 

Recollect then, O Marcus Antonius, that day on which you 
abohshed the dictatorship. Set before you the joy of the Senate 
and people of Rome. Compare it with this infamous market 
held by you and by your friends ; and then you will understand 
how great is the difference between praise and profit. But, in 
truth, just as some people, through some disease which has 
blunted the senses, have no conception of the niceness of food, 
so men who are lustful, avaricious, and criminal, have no taste 
for true glory. But if praise can not allure you to act rightly, 
still can not even fear turn you away from the most shame- 
ful actions? . . . 

^ See pages 160-161. • 

2 Spurius Cassius, the leading statesman of the early republic, was put to 
death in 485 b. c. on the charge of treason to the state. 

' Mffilius was a rich plebeian accused of conspiring to overthrow the 
republic (439 b. c.)- 

* See pages i 71-172. 



THE SECOND PHILIPPIC 201 

But if you are not afraid of brave men and illustrious citizens, 
because they are prevented from attacking you by your armed 
retinue, still, believe me, your own fellows will not long endure 
you. And what a life it is, day and night to be fearing danger 
from one's own people! Unless, indeed, you have men who are 
bound to you by greater kindnesses than some of those men by 
whom he was slain were bound to Caesar; or unless there are 
points in which you can be compared with him. 

In that man were combined genius, method, memory, litera- 
ture, prudence, deliberation, and industry. He had performed 
exploits in war which, though calamitous for the republic, were 
nevertheless mighty deeds. Having for many years aimed at 
being king, he had, with great labor and much personal danger, 
accomplished what he intended. He had conciliated the 
ignorant multitude by presents, by monuments, by gifts of food, 
and by banquets. He had bound his own party to him by re- 
wards, and his adversaries by the appearance of clemency. 
Why need I say much on such a subject? He had already 
brought a free city, partly by fear, partly by patience, into a 
habit of slavery. With him I can, indeed, compare you as to 
your desire to reign ; but in all other respects you are in no degree 
to be compared with him. . . . 

Consider, I beg you, Marcus Antonius, do some time or other 
consider the repubUc. Think of the family of which you are 
born, not of the men with whom you are living. Be reconciled 
to the repubHc. However, do you decide on your conduct. As 
for mine, I myself will declare what that shall be. I defended the 
republic as a young man ; I will not abandon it now that I am old. 
I scorned the sword of Catiline; I will not quail before yours. 
No, I will rather cheerfully expose my own person, if the liberty 
of the city can be restored by my death. 

May the indignation of the Roman people at last bring forth 
what it has been so long laboring with. In truth, if twenty 
years ago in this very temple I asserted that death could not come 
prematurely upon a man of consular rank, with how much more 
truth must I now say the same of an old man? To me, indeed, 



202 CICERO THE ORATOR 

conscript fathers, death is now even desirable, after all the 
honors which I have gained and the deeds which I have done. 

1 only pray for these two things : one, that dying, I may leave the 
Roman people free. No greater boon than this can be granted 
me by the immortal gods. The other, that every one may meet 
with a fate suitable to his deserts and conduct toward the 
republic. . 

These Philippics were the last orations ever delivered 
by Cicero, and the last voice, as well, of republican Rome. 
When Antony united with Lepidus and the young Octa- 
vius in the Second Triumvirate, Cicero was one of his first 
victims. Hired assassins, headed by PapilHus, a tribune, 
and Herennius, a centurion, tracked the old man to his coun- 
try seat at Caieta. "A youth who had been educated by 
Cicero in the liberal arts and sciences . . . informed the 
tribune that Cicero in a litter was on his way to the sea. 
The tribune, taking a few with him, ran to the place where 
he was to come out. Cicero, perceiving Herennius running 
in the path, commanded his servants to set down the 
litter. Stroking his chin, as he used to do, with his left 
hand, he looked steadfastly at his murderers, his person 
covered with dust, his beard and hair untrimmed, and his 
face worn with his troubles. The greater number of those 
that stood by covered their faces while Herennius slew 
him. And thus was he murdered, stretching forth his 
neck out of the litter. He was in his sixty-fourth year. 
Herennius cut off his head, and, by Antony's command, 
his hands also, by which his Philippics were written; for 
so Cicero styled those orations he wrote against Antony, 
and so they are called to this day. . . . Antony commanded 
that the head and hands be fastened up over the Rostra, 
where the orators spoke; a sight which the Roman people 
shuddered to behold. They believed they saw there not 



THE SECOND PHILIPPIC 203 

the face of Cicero, but the image of Antony's own soul. 
Some long time after, Ca^sar,^ I have been told, visiting 
one of his daughter's sons, found him with a book of Cic- 
ero's in his hand. The boy for fear endeavored to hide it 
under his gown ; which Caesar perceiving, took it from him, 
and, turning over a great part of the book gave it to him 
again, and said, 'My child, this was a great orator, and a 
man who loved his country well.'" ^ 

^ Octavius, afterwards Caesar Augustus. 
2 Plutarch, Cicero, 48-49. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
THE CONQUEST OF GAUL, RELATED BY CiESARi 

The Commentaries on the Gallic War by Julius Caesar is 
a book of unique interest. The greatest Roman of his 
time describes in it the wonderfully successful campaigns 
by which he extended the dominion of Rome over western 
Europe to the North Sea and the Rhine. Caesar was 
brought in contact with the inhabitants of this region dur- 
ing the years 58-51 b. c. When Caesar had finished his 
work, all Gaul had been added to the Roman Empire and 
a beginning had been made toward its subsequent exten- 
sion over part of Germany and Britain. 

90. The First Invasion of Germany 2 

In 58 B.C. Caesar proceeded to his pro\ance of Transal- 
pine Gaul and there immediately found himself confronted 
with a serious situation. The Helvetii, inhabitants of 
northern Switzerland, were then attempting an armed 
immigration through the heart of the Roman territories. 
Caesar met them with his legions and hurled back the 
tide of invasion at the cost of more than two hundred 
thousand barbarian lives. Later in the same year, he 
expelled from Gaul and drove across the Rhine a Ger- 
man people under their king Ariovistus. During his sec- 
ond year as governor (57 b. c), Caesar was engaged in 

1 C(€sar's Commentaries on the Gallic War, translated by T. R. Holmes. 
London, 1908. Macmillan and Co. 

* Caesar, Commentaries on the Gallic War, iv, 17-19. 



THE FIRST INVASION OF GERMANY 205 

subduing the inhabitants of northern Gaul (modern Bel- 
gium). The third year (56 b. c.) saw a campaign against 
the Veneti, a warlike people living in the peninsula of Brit- 
tany. Though the Veneti were expert sailors, Caesar 
built a navy, met them on the sea, administered a 
sharp defeat, and reduced the entire nation to slav- 
ery. The Commentaries for the year 55 b. c. relate two 
events of commanding interest — the invasion of Germany 
and the expedition to Britain. The hurried inroad into 
Germany fixed the Rhine as the military frontier between 
the Roman Empire and the barbarian world. 

Caesar was determined to cross the Rhine, but he thought it 
hardly safe to pass over in boats, and considered that to do so 
would not be consistent with his own dignity or that of the 
Roman people. Although the construction of a bridge pre- 
sented great difficulties, on account of the breadth, swiftness, 
and depth of the stream, he nevertheless thought best to make 
the attempt, or else not to cross at all. . . . 

Within ten days after the collection of the timber began, the 
whole work was finished, and the army crossed over.^ Caesar 
left a strong force at both ends of the bridge, and marched 
rapidly for the country of the Sugambri. Meanwhile, envoys 
came in from several tribes; and Caesar replied graciously to 
their prayer for peace and friendship and directed them to bring 
him hostages. But the Sugambri, who from the moment when 
the construction of the bridge began . . . had prepared for 
flight, left their country with all their belongings, and hid 
themselves in the recesses of the forests. 

Caesar remained a few days in their country, burned all their 
villages and homesteads, cut down their corn, and returned to the 
territory of the Ubii. Promising to help them in case they were 
molested by the Suebi, he ascertained from them that the Suebi, 

' Caesar's passage of the Rhine was probably between Andernach and 
Coblenz. 



2o6 THE CONQUEST OF GAUL 

on learning from their scouts that the bridge was being made, had 
called a council according to their custom, and had sent mes- 
sengers in all directions, bidding the people to abandon the 
strongholds, convey their wives and children and all their be- 
longings into the forests, and assemble — all of them who could 
bear arms — at a fixed place. . . . Here they were waiting the 
arrival of the Romans, and here they had determined to fight a 
decisive battle. Caesar had now achieved every object for which 
he had determined to lead his army across — he had overawed 
the Germans, punished the Sugambri, and relieved the Ubii 
from hostile pressure. He felt, therefore, that honor was 
satisfied and that he had served every useful purpose. Accord- 
ingly, when he heard the news about the Suebi, he returned to 
Gaul, having spent just eighteen days on the further side of the 
Rhine, and destroyed the bridge. 

91. The First Invasion of Britain ^ 

Upon his return from the foray into Germany, Caesar 
made his famous expedition to Britain. Until this time 
the country had remained almost entirely unknown to the 
Greeks and Romans. Caesar's landing in Britain is thus of 
much historical interest, although it did not lead immedi- 
ately to the conquest of the island. 

Caesar took advantage of favorable weather and set sail 
about the third watch, having first directed the cavalry to march 
to the further harbor, embark there, and follow him. They 
were rather slow in getting through their work; but Caesar, 
with the leading ships, reached Britain about the fourth hour; 
and there, standing in full view on all the heights, he saw an 
armed force of the enemy. The formation of the ground was 
peculiar, the sea being so closely walled in by abrupt heights 
that it was possible to throw a missile from the ground above 
onto the shore. Caesar thought the place most unsuitable for 

1 Caesar, Commentaries on the Gallic War, iv, 23-26. 



THE FIRST INVASION OF BRITAIN 207 

landing, and accordingly remained till the ninth hour, waiting 
at anchor for the other ships to join him. 

Caesar, meanwhile, assembled the generals and tribunes . . . 
and explained his own plans, charging them to bear in mind the 
requirements of war and particularly of seamanship, involving 
as it did rapid and irregular movements, and to see that all 
orders were carried out smartly and at the right moment. The 
officers then dispersed. When wind and tide were together in 
his favor, Caesar gave the signal, weighed anchor, and, sailing 
on about seven miles further, ran the ships aground on an open 
and evenly-shelving shore. ^ 

The natives knew what the Romans intended. Sending on 
ahead their cavalry and charioteers — a kind of warriors whom 
they habitually employ in action — they followed with the rest 
of their force and attempted to prevent our men from disem- 
barking. It was very diflficult to land, for these reasons. The 
size of the ships made it impossible for them to approach except 
in deep water; the soldiers did not know the ground, and with 
their hands loaded, and weighted by their heavy, cumbrous 
armor, they had to jump down from the ships, keep their 
foothold in the surf, and fight the enemy all at once. The 
enemy, on the contrary, had all their limbs free, they knew the 
ground perfectly, and standing on dry land or moving forward 
a little into the water, they threw their missiles boldly and 
drove their horses into the sea, which they were trained to enter. 
Our men were unnerved by the situation. Having no experi- 
ence of this kind of warfare, they did not show the same dash 
and energy that they generally did in battles on land. 

Caesar, noticing this, ordered the galleys, with the look of 
which the natives were not familiar, and which were easier to 
handle, to sheer off a little from the transports, row hard, and 
range alongside of the enemy's flank. Slingers, archers, and 
artillery were to shoot from their decks and drive the enemy out 
of the way. This manoeuvre was of great service to our men. 

^ The landing was between Deal and Walmer near the white cliffs of 
Dover; the date, August 26, 55 b. c. 



2o8 THE CONQUEST OF GAUL 

The natives, alarmed by the build of the ships, the motion of 
the oars, and the strangeness of the artillery, stood still, and 
then drew back a little. And now, as our soldiers were hesi- 
tating, chiefly because of the depth of the water, the standard- 
bearer of the loth legion, praying that his attempt might redound 
to the success of the legion, cried, "Leap down, men, unless you 
want to abandon the eagle to the enemy. I, at all events, shall 
have done my duty to my country and my general." Uttering 
these words in a loud voice, he threw himself overboard and 
advanced, bearing the eagle, against the foe. Then, calling 
upon each other not to suffer such a disgrace, the men leaped all 
together from the ship. Seeing this, their comrades in the 
nearest ships followed them, and moved close up to the 
enemy. 

There was fierce fighting on both sides. Our men, however, 
were in great confusion, because they could not keep their ranks 
unbroken or get firm foothold or follow their respective 
standards. . . . The enemy, on the other hand, knew all the 
shallows. When, from their standpoint on shore they saw a few 
men disembarking one by one, they urged on their horses and 
. . . attacked them before the Romans were ready. Others 
again got on the exposed flank of an entire company and plied 
them with missiles. Caesar, noticing this, ordered the men-of- 
war's boats and also the scouts to be manned, and, whenever 
he saw any of his soldiers in difficulties, sent them to the rescue. 
Our men, as soon as they got upon dry land, followed by all 
their comrades, charged the enemy and put them to flight, but 
could not pursue them far, because the cavalry had not been 
able to keep their course and make the island. This was the 
only drawback to Caesar's usual good fortune. 

92. Britain and Its Inhabitants ^ 

After holding a difficult position in Britain for about 
three weeks, Cassar was glad to make peace with its war- 
1 Caesar, Commentaries on the Gallic War, v, 12-14. 



BRITAIN AND ITS INHABITANTS 209 

like natives and to return with his fleet to Gaul. The fol- 
lowing year (54 b. c), he again visited Britain. If his 
two months' stay in the island led to no lasting conquests, 
it added considerably to the Roman knowledge of the 
country and its people. 

The interior of Britain is inhabited by a people who, accord- 
ing to oral tradition . . . are aboriginal; the maritime dis- 
tricts by immigrants who crossed over from Belgium to plunder 
and attack the aborigines. . . . When the war was over, they 
remained in the country and settled down as tillers of the soil. 
The population is immense. Homesteads, closely resembling 
those of the Gauls, are met with at every turn; and cattle are 
very numerous. Gold coins are in use, or, instead of coins, 
iron bars of fixed weight.^ Tin is found in the country in the 
inland, and iron in the maritime, districts, but the latter only in 
small quantities; bronze is imported. Trees exist, of all the 
varieties which occur in Gaul, except the beech and the fir. 
Hares, fowls, and geese they think it impious to taste ; but they 
keep them for pastime or amusement. The cHmate is more 
equable than in Gaul, the cold being less severe. 

The island is triangular in shape, one side being opposite 
Gaul. One corner of this side, by Kent — the landing-place 
for almost all ships from Gaul — has an easterly, and the lower 
one a southerly aspect. The extent of this side is about five 
hundred miles. The second trends westward toward Spain.^ 
Off the coast here is Ireland, which is considered only half as 
large as Britain, though the passage is equal in length to that 
between Britain and Gaul. Halfway across is an island called 
Man ; and several smaller islands also are believed to be situated 
opposite this coast. . . . 

By far the most civihzed of all the natives are the inhabitants 
of Kent . . . whose culture does not differ much from that of 
the Gauls. The people of the interior do not, for the most 

^ Many of these iron bars have been found in hoards. 
^ A curious geographical error. 



2IO THE CONQUEST OF GAUL 

part, cultivate grain, but live on milk and flesh-meat, and clothe 
themselves with skins. All the Britons, without exception, 
stain themselves with woad, which produces a bluish tint; and 
this gives them a wild look in battle . They wear their hair 
long, and shave the whole of their body except the head and 
the upper lip. . , . 

93. The Gauls 1 

Throughout Gaul there are two classes of that part of the 
population which is of any account or rank. The common 
people are regarded almost as slaves. They never venture to 
act on their own initiative, and are not admitted to any council. 
Generally, when crushed by debt, heavy taxation, or ill treat- 
ment by powerful individuals, they bind themselves to serve 
men of rank, who exercise over them all the rights that masters 
have over their slaves. 

One of these two classes consists of the Druids, the other of 
the Knights. The former ofiiciate at the worship of the gods, 
regulate sacrifices, private as well as public, and expound ques- 
tions of religion. Young men resort to them in large numbers 
for study, and the people hold them in great respect. They are 
judges in nearly all disputes, whether between tribes or indi- 
viduals. When a crime is committed, when a murder takes 
place, when a dispute arises about inherited property or boun- 
daries, the Druids settle the matter and fix the awards and fines. 
If any ligitant, whether an individual or a tribe, does not abide 
by their decision, they excommunicate the offender — the heavi- 
est punishment which they can inflict. Persons who are under 
such a sentence are looked upon as impious monsters; every- 
body avoids them, everybody shuns their approach and con- 
versation, for fear of incurring pollution. . . . 

The Druids, as a rule, take no part in war, and do not pay 
taxes like the rest of their countrymen. They also enjoy exemp- 
tion from military service and immunity from all burdens. 
Attracted by these great privileges, many persons voluntarily 

^ Caesar, Commentaries on the Gallic War, vi, 13-16. 



THE GAULS 211 

come to learn from them, while many are sent by their parents 
and relatives. During their novitiate it is said that they learn 
by heart a great number of verses; and accordingly some remain 
twenty years under instruction. It is against the principles of 
the Druids to commit their doctrines to writing, though, for 
most other purposes, such as public and private documents, 
they use Greek characters. They seem to me to have estab- 
lished this custom for two reasons. They neither wish their 
doctrines to become common property, nor their disciples to 
trust to documents and neglect to cultivate their memories. 
For with most people it usually happens that, if they rely upon 
documents, they become less diligent in study and their memory 
is weakened. A doctrine which the Druids are very earnest 
in inculcating is that the soul does not perish, but that after 
death it passes from one body to another.^ They regard this 
behef as a powerful incentive to valor, since it inspires a contempt 
for death. They also hold long discussions about the heavenly 
bodies and their motions, the size of the universe and of the 
earth, the origin of all things, and the might and power of the 
immortal gods. . . . 

The second of the two classes consists of the Knights. On 
occasion, when war breaks out, as happened almost every year 
before Caesar's arrival . . . they all take the field, and surround 
themselves with as many armed servants and retainers as their 
birth and resources permit. This is the only sign of influence 
and power which they recognize. 

The GaUic people, in general, are remarkably addicted to 
religious observances. . . . They have colossal images the 
limbs of which, made of wickerwork, they fill with living men 
and set on fire; and the victims perish, encompassed by the 
flames. They regard it as more acceptable to the gods to punish 
those who are caught in the commission of theft, robbery, or 
any other crime ; but in default of criminals, they actually resort 
to the sacrifice of the innocent. 

^The Egyptians had similar ideas of the transmigration of souls. See 
page 5- 



212 THE CONQUEST OF GAUL 

94. The Germans 1 

The manners and customs of the Germans differ widely from 
those just described. They have no Druids to preside over 
public worship, and care nothing for sacrifices. The only 
deities whom they recognize are those whom they can see, and 
from whose power they derive manifest benefit, namely, Sun, 
Moon, and Fire: the rest they have not even heard of. Their 
lives are passed entirely in hunting and warlike pursuits; and 
from infancy they are inured to toil and hardship. . . . 

The Germans are not an agricultural people, and live prin- 
cipally upon milk, cheese, and meat. Nobody possesses any 
land of his own. The authorities and chieftains annually assign 
to the several clans and groups of kinsmen, as much land as they 
think proper, in whatever quarter they please, and in the fol- 
lowing year compel them to remove to another place. . . . 

The greatest distinction which a tribe can have is to be sur- 
rounded by as wide a belt as possible of waste and desert land. 
They regard it as a tribute to their valor that the neighboring 
peoples should be dispossessed and that no one should venture 
to settle in their vicinity. At the same time they count on 
gaining additional security by being relieved from the fear of 
sudden raids. When a tribe has to repel or make an attack, 
officers are chosen to conduct the campaign and are invested with 
powers of life and death. In time of peace there is no central 
magistracy. The chiefs of the various districts and cantons 
administer justice and settle disputes among their own people. 
No discredit attaches to predatory expeditions outside the 
tribal boundary. The people tell you that they are under- 
taken in order to keep the young men in training and to prevent 
laziness. Whenever any of the chiefs annoimces in the assembly 
his intention of leading an expedition, and calls for volunteers, 
those who approve the enterprise and the leader stand up and 
promise to help, and the whole gathering applauds them. Indi- 
viduals who do not follow their leader are counted as deserters 
^ Caesar, Commentaries on the Gallic War, vi, 21-23, 25-28. 



THE GERMANS 213 

and traitors, and thenceforth are no longer trusted. To ill- 
treat a guest is regarded as a crime: those who visit them, from 
whatever motive, they shield from injury and regard their 
persons as sacred; every man's house is open to them, and they 
are welcomed at meals. . . . 

The Hercynian forest ^ extends over an area which a man 
traveling without encumbrance requires nine days to traverse. 
There is no other way of defining its extent, and the natives 
have no standards of measurement. ... It is known to pro- 
duce many kinds of wild animals which have never been seen 
elsewhere. The following, on account of their strongly marked 
characteristics, seem worthy of mention. 

There is a species of ox, shaped like a stag, with a single horn 
standing out between its ears from the middle of its forehead, 
higher and straighter than horns as we know them. Tines 
spread out wide from the top, like hands and branches. The 
characteristics of the male and female are identical, and so are 
the shape and size of their horns.^ 

Again, there are elks, so-called, which resemble goats in 
shape and in having piebald coats, but are rather larger. They 
have blunt horns, and their legs have no knots or joints.' They 
do not He down to sleep ; and if by any chance they are knocked 
down, they cannot stand up again, or even raise themselves. 
Their resting-places are trees, against which they lean, and thus 
rest in a partially recumbent position. Hunters mark their usual 
lair from their tracks, and uproot or cut deep into all the trees in 
the neighborhood, so that they just look as if they were standing. 
The animals' lean against them as usual, upset the weakened 
trunks by their mere weight, and fall down along with them. 

There is a third species, called aurochs,'* a little smaller than 

1 Extending from the Black Forest to the highlands of Bohemia. 

^ This animal was probably the reindeer, which, however, has a pair 
of antlers, not one only. 

' Caesar, of course, was mistaken in saying that elks have no joints. 

* The aurochs was the primitive ox which roamed wild in Britain and 
western Europe during prehistoric times. 



214 THE CONQUEST OF GAUL 

elephants, having the appearance, color, and shape of bulls. 
They are very strong and swift, and attack every man and beast 
they catch sight of. The natives carefully trap them in pits 
and kill them. Young men engage in the sport, hardening their 
muscles by the exercise; and those who kill the largest head of 
game exhibit the horns as a trophy, and thereby earn high 
honor. These animals, even when caught young, cannot be 
domesticated and tamed. Their horns, in size, shape, and 
appearance, differ widely from those of our oxen. The natives, 
who are fond of collecting the horns, mount them round the rim 
with silver and use them as drinking-cups at grand banquets. 

95. Vercingetorix and the Last Struggle of the Gauls ^ 

Caesar's expeditions to Britain during the years 55-54 
B. c. had the result of exposing his conquests in Gaul itself 
to extreme peril. The strength of the Gallic resistance lay 
in the north and east where the Belgian tribes still proved 
irreconcilable foes. By a series of swift campaigns the 
turbulent natives were once more reduced to submission 
and Caesar was left free to make another invasion of Ger- 
many for the purpose of punishing the German allies of 
the Gallic tribes (53 b. c). But the insurrectionary move- 
ment was by no means crushed. The next year (52 b. c.) he 
had to face a grand, confederate revolt of the Gauls under 
the leadership of their hero, Vercingetorix. It seemed, 
for a time, that all of Caesar's conquests in the previous 
campaigns would be lost. At length, however, Vercinget- 
orix was shut up in the city of Alesia and there besieged 
by the Romans. When the defenders of the city had come 
to the verge of famine, an army of rescue, gathered from 
all parts of Gaul, suddenly appeared before Caesar's lines. 
Vercingetorix now seized the opportunity for a sortie from 
the city against the Roman works. 

^ Cassar, Commentaries on the Gallic War, vii, 84-89. 



VERCINGETORIX AND THE LAST STRUGGLE 215 

Observing his countrymen from the citadel of Alesia, Vercin- 
getorix moved out of the town, taking from the camp the long 
pikes, sappers' huts, grappling-hooks, and other implements 
which he had prepared for the sortie. Fighting went on 
simultaneously at every point; and the besieged tried every 
expedient, concentrating their strength on the weakest points. 
The Roman forces, being strung out over lines of vast extent, 
found it hard to move to several points at once. The shouts 
of the combatants in their rear had a serious effect in unnerving 
the men, who saw that their own lives were staked upon the 
courage of others; for men are generally disquieted most by 
the unseen. 

Caesar found a good position, from which he observed all 
the phases of the action and reinforced those who were in diffi- 
culties. Both sides saw that now was the moment for a supreme 
efifort. The Gauls utterly despaired of safety unless they could 
break the lines. The Romans, if they could but hold their 
ground, looked forward to the end of all their toils. The struggle 
was most severe at the entrenchments on the high ground, 
against which Vercassivelaunus ^ had been sent. . . . Some of 
the assailants showered in missiles, while others locked their 
shields above their heads and advanced to the assault ; and when 
they were tired, fresh men took their places. The entire force 
shot earth against the fortifications, which at once enabled the 
Gauls to ascend and buried the obstacles which the Romans 
had hidden in the ground. And now weapons, and strength to 
use them, were failing our men. 

On learning the state of affairs, Caesar sent Labienus with 
six cohorts ^ to rescue the hard-pressed garrison, telling him, in 
case he could not hold out, to marshal the cohorts and charge, 
but only as a forlorn hope. Visiting the other divisions in 
person, he exhorted them not to give up. On that day, he told 
them, on that hour, was staked the prize of all past combats. 

1 One of the leaders of the Gauls. 

* Caesar's army in the field was divided into legions, and each legion 
into 10 cohorts or battalions. 



2i6 THE CONQUEST OF GAUL 

The besieged, abandoning the hope of forcing the formidable 
works in the plain, took the implements which they had pre- 
pared and attempted to storm a steep ascent. With a hail of 
missiles they drove off the men who defended the towers, filled 
up the trenches with earth and hurdles, and with their grap- 
pling-hooks tore down the rampart and breastworks. 

Caesar first sent the younger Brutus with a number of cohorts 
and afterwards Gains Fabius with others. Finally, as the 
struggle grew fiercer, he led a fresh detachment in person to the 
rescue. Having restored the battle and beaten off the enemy, 
he hastened to the point to which he had dispatched Labienus. 
He withdrew four cohorts from the nearest redoubt and ordered 
part of the cavalry to follow him and part to ride round the 
outer lines, and attack the enemy in the rear. Labienus, 
finding that neither rampart nor trench could check the enemy's 
onslaught, massed eleven cohorts, which he was fortunately 
able to withdraw from the nearest guard-posts, and sent mes- 
sengers to let Caesar know what he intended. Caesar hastened 
to take part in the action. 

The enemy knew that he was coming from the color of his 
cloak, which he generally wore in action to mark his identity. 
. . . Both sides raised a cheer, and the cheering was taken up 
along the rampart and the whole extent of the lines. Our men 
dropped their javelins and plied their swords. Suddenly the 
cavalry was seen on the enemy's rear: the fresh cohorts came 
up; the enemy took to flight; and the cavalry charged the 
fugitives. The carnage was great. . . . Few of that mighty 
host got safely back to camp. . . . 

Next day Vercingetorix called a council. He explained that 
he had undertaken the war, not for private ends, but in the cause 
of national freedom. Since they must needs bow to fortune, 
he would submit to whichever alternative they preferred — - 
either to appease the Romans by putting him to death or to 
surrender him alive. Envoys were sent to refer the question 
to Caesar. He ordered the arms to be surrendered and the 
leaders brought out. The officers were conducted to the 



VERCINGETORIX AND THE LAST STRUGGLE 217 

intrenchment in front of his camp, where he was seated. 
Vercingetorix surrendered, and all weapons were laid down. 
Caesar allotted one prisoner by way of prize to every man 
in the army. . . . 

With the decisive victory at Alesia and the surrender 
of Vercingetorix, Caesar brings his narrative to an end. 
Six years later, when the conqueror celebrated a tri- 
umph at Rome for his victories throughout the world, 
the Gallic chieftain walked a captive in the splendid pro- 
cession, and at its conclusion, suffered death. Such pity 
had Caesar for a valiant foe. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE MAKERS OF IMPERIAL ROME: CHARACTER SKETCHES 
BY SUETONIUS 1 

Gaius SuETONros Tranquillus (about 75-160 a. d.) 
was fortunate in passing a lifetime during those unclouded 
years of the Early Empire, when Nerva, Trajan, and Ha- 
drian occupied the throne. Though the greater part of his 
voluminous writings are lost, we possess intact his Lives 
of the Twelve Ccesars. The book is one of the last pro- 
ductions of classic Latin prose. It begins with Julius 
Caesar and ends with Domitian. The work cannot be 
considered a serious historical composition. It is rather 
a collection of personal sketches drawn with vividness and 
impartiality. Much of it, indeed, is gossip, but the gos- 
sip concerns the mightiest line of rulers that the world has 
ever known. 

96. Julius Caesar 2 

It is said that he was tall, of a fair complexion, round-limbed, 
rather full-faced, with eyes black and piercing. He enjoyed 
excellent health, except toward the close of his life, when he was 
subject to sudden fainting-fits, and disturbance in his sleep. 
He was likewise twice seized with the falling sickness while 
engaged in active service. He was so nice in the care of his 
person, that he not only kept the hair of his head closely cut and 
had his face smoothly shaved, but even caused the hair on other 

' Suetonius, The Lives of the Twelve Ccesars. The translation of Alex- 
ander Thomson, revised by T. Forester. London, 1855. George Bell and 
Sons. 

^ Suetonius, Julius Casar, 45, 55-57, 60, 63-64, 74, 76. 



JULIUS CiESAR 219 

parts of the body to be plucked out by the roots. This was a 
practice for which some persons rallied him. His baldness 
gave him much uneasiness, having often found himself upon that 
account exposed to the jibes of his enemies. He therefore used 
to bring forward the hair from the crown of his head. Of all 
the honors conferred upon him by the Senate and people, there 
was none which he either accepted or used with greater pleasure 
than the right of wearing constantly a laurel crown. It is said 
that he was particular in his dress, using the latus clavus ^ with 
fringes about the wrists, and always had it girded about him, 
but rather loosely. This circumstance gave origin to the expres- 
sion of Sulla, who often advised the nobles to beware of "the 
ill-girt boy." . . . 

In eloquence and warlike achievements, he equaled, at least, 
if he did not surpass, the greatest of men. . . , Cicero, in 
recounting to Brutus the famous orators, declares that he does 
not see that Caesar was inferior to any one of them; and adds 
that "Caesar had an elegant, splendid, noble, and magnificent 
vein of eloquence." ... In his delivery Caesar is said to have 
had a shrill voice. His action was animated, but not ungrace- 
ful. He has left behind him some speeches, among which are 
ranked a few that are not genuine. . . . 

He has likewise left Commentaries of his own actions both in 
the war in Gaul and in the civil war with Pompey. ... Of 
these productions Cicero, in one of his works speaks thus, 
"He wrote his Commentaries in a manner deserving of great 
approbation: they are plain, precise, and elegant, without any 
affectation of rhetorical ornament." . . . 

He was perfect in the use of arms, an accomplished rider, 
and able to endure fatigue beyond all belief. On a march, he 
used to go at the head of his troops, sometimes on horseback, 
but oftener on foot, with his head bare in all kinds of weather. 
He would travel post in a light carriage without baggage, at 
the rate of a hundred miles a day. If he was stopped by floods 
in the rivers, he swam across, or floated on skins inflated with 
^ A broad strip of purple worn on the front of the toga. 



2 20 THE MAKERS OF IMPERIAL ROME 

wind, so that he often anticipated intelligence of his move- 
ments. . . . He not only fought pitched battles, but made 
sudden attacks when an opportunity offered; often at the end 
of a march, and sometimes during the most violent storms, 
when nobody would imagine he could stir. Nor was he ever 
backward in fighting, until toward the end of his life. . . . He 
never defeated the enemy without driving them from their 
camp and giving them no time to rally their forces. When 
the issue of a battle was doubtful, he sent away all the horses, 
and his own first, that having no means of flight, his men might 
be under the greater necessity of standing their ground. . . . 

The following are remarkable instances of his resolution. 
After the battle of Pharsalus, having sent his troops before him 
into Asia, he was passing the strait of the Hellespont in a ferry- 
boat. Here he met Lucius Cassius, one of the opposite party, 
with ten ships of war. So far from endeavoring to escape, 
Caesar went alongside his ship and called upon him to sur- 
render. Cassius humbly gave him his submission. At Alex- 
andria, in the attack of a bridge, he was forced by a sudden 
sally of the enemy into a boat. Several others hurrying in 
with him, he leaped into the sea, and saved himself by swim- 
ming to the next ship, which lay at the distance of two hundred 
paces. In this exploit he held his left hand out of the water, 
for fear of wetting some papers which he held in it ; and pulled 
his general's cloak after him with his teeth, lest it should fall 
into the hands of the enemy. ... 

His temper was naturally averse to severity in retaliation. 
After he had captured some pirates, by whom he had been taken, 
having sworn that he would crucify them, he did so indeed; 
but he first ordered their throats to be cut.^ He could never 
bear the thought of doing any harm to Cornelius Phagitas, who 
. had dogged him in the night when he was sick and a fugitive, 
with the design of carrying him to Sulla, and from whose hands 
he had escaped with some difficulty by giving him a bribe. 
Philemon, his amanuensis, who had promised his enemies to 
^ To save them from the torture of a lingering death. 



C^SAR AUGUSTUS 221 

poison him, he put to death without torture. When he was 
summoned as a witness against PubUcus Clodius, who was 
prosecuted for the profanation of reUgious ceremonies, he de- 
clared he knew nothing of the affair, although his mother Aurelia 
and his sister Julia gave the court an exact and full account of 
the circumstances. And being asked why then he had divorced 
his wife, he said, "Because my family should not only be free 
from guilt, but even from the suspicion of it." . . . 

His other words and actions, however, so far outweigh all 
his good qualities, that it is thought he abused his power and 
was justly cut ofif. For he not only obtained excessive honors, 
such as the consulship every year, the dictatorship for life, and 
the censorship, but also the title of emperor and the surname 
of FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY .... He even suffered some 
honors to be decreed to him, which were unbefitting the most 
exalted of mankind; such as a gilded chair of state in the Senate- 
house, a consecrated chariot, altars, statues among the gods, a 
bed of state in the temples, a priest, and a college of priests 
dedicated to himself. He also allowed one of the months to 
be called by his name. There were, indeed, no honors which he 
did not either assume himself or grant to others, at his will and 
pleasure. . . . 

97. Caesar Augustus ^ 

. . . He lost his mother in his first consulship, and his sister 
Octavia, when he was in the fifty-fourth year of his age. He 
behaved toward them both with the utmost kindness while 
they were alive, and after their decease paid the highest honors 
to their memory. . . . 

In bringing up his daughter and granddaughters, he accus- 
tomed them to domestic employments, even to spinning. He 
also obliged them to speak and act everything openly before the 
family, that it might be put down in the diary. He so strictly 
prohibited them from all converse with strangers, that he once 
wrote a letter to Lucius Vinicius, a handsome young man of a 

' Suetonius, Casar Augustus, 61, 64, 66-67, 72-77, 79, 84-85, 90. 



2 22 THE MAKERS OF IMPERL\L ROME 

good family, in which he told him, "You have not behaved very 
modestly, in making a visit to my daughter at Baiae." ^ He 
usually instructed his grandsons himself in reading, swimming, 
and other rudiments of knowledge. He never supped but he 
had them sitting at the foot of his couch. He never traveled 
but with them in a chariot before him, or riding beside him. . . . 

He was cautious in forming friendships, but clung to them with 
great constancy. ... He expected from his friends, at their 
deaths as well as during their lives, some proofs of their 
reciprocal attachment. Though he was far from coveting their 
property, and indeed would never accept any legacy left him 
by a stranger, yet he pondered in a melancholy mood over 
their last words. He was not able to conceal his chagrin, if in 
their wills they made but a slight, or no very honorable, mention 
of him, nor his joy, on the other hand, if they expressed a grate- 
ful sense of his favors and a hearty affection for him. Whatever 
legacies or shares of their property were left him by such as 
were parents, he used to restore with interest to their children. 
He did this either immediately, or if they were under age, 
upon the day of their assuming the manly dress, or of their 
marriage. 

As a patron and master, his behavior in general was mild and 
conciliating; but when occasion required it, he could be severe. 
. . . When his slave. Cosmos, had reflected bitterly upon him, 
he resented the injury no further than by putting him in fetters. 
When his steward, Diomedes, left him to the mercy of a wild 
boar, which suddenly attacked them v/hile they were walking 
together, he considered it rather an act of cowardice than a 
breach of duty; and turned an occurrence of no small hazard 
into a jest, because there was no knavery in his steward's 
conduct. ... He broke the legs of his secretary, Thallus, for 
accepting a bribe of five hundred denarii to discover the contents 
of one of his letters. And when the tutor and other attendants 
of his son Gains had taken advantage of his sickness and death, 
to give loose to their insolence and rapacity in the province 

^ A Roman summer-resort. See page 231, note 2. 



C^SAR AUGUSTUS 223 

Gaius governed, he caused heavy weights to be tied about 
their necks, and had them thrown into a river. . . . 

He was moderate in his habits, and free from suspicion of any 
kind of vice. He lived at first near the Roman Forum. . , . 
He afterwards moved to the Palatine Hill, where he resided in a 
small house . . . not remarkable either for size or ornament. 
For the piazzas were but small, the pillars of Alban stone, and 
the rooms without anything of marble or fine paving. . , . 
He had a particular aversion to large and sumptuous palaces. 
Some residences which had been raised at a vast expense by his 
granddaughter, Julia, he leveled to the ground. Those of his 
own, which were far from being spacious, he adorned, not so 
much with statues and pictures, as with walks, groves, and 
things which were curious either for their antiquity or 
rarity. . . . 

His frugaUty in the furniture of his house appears even at 
this day, from some beds and tables still remaining, most of 
which are scarcely elegant enough for a private family. It is 
reported that he never lay upon a bed, but such as was low and 
meanly furnished. He seldom wore any garment but what was 
made by the hands of his wife, sister, daughter, and grand- 
daughters. His togas were neither scanty nor full; and the 
clavus ^ was neither remarkably broad or narrow. His shoes 
were a little higher than common, to make him appear taller 
than he was. He had always clothes and shoes, fit to appear in 
public, ready in his bed-chamber for any sudden occasion. 

At his table, which was always plentiful and elegant, he con- 
stantly entertained company; but was very scrupulous in the 
choiceof his guests, both as to rank and character. . . .He often 
came late to table and withdrew early; so that the company 
began supper before his arrival and continued at table after his 
departure. His entertainments consisted of three entrees, or 
at most of only six. But, if his fare was moderate, his courtesy 
was extreme. Those who were silent or talked in whispers, he 
encouraged to join in the general conversation. He also often 

^ See page 219, note i. 



224 THE MAKERS OF IMPERIAL ROME 

had buffoons and stage players, or even low performers from 
the circus and itinerant humorists, to enliven the company. 

Festivals and holidays he usually celebrated very expensively, 
but sometimes only with merriment. In the Saturnalia,^ or at 
any other time when the fancy took him, he distributed to his 
company clothes, gold, and silver; sometimes coins of all 
sorts, even of the ancient kings of Rome and of foreign 
nations. Sometimes he would give nothing but towels, 
sponges, rakes, and tweezers, and other things of that kind, 
with tickets on them which were enigmatical and had a double 
meaning. . . . 

He ate sparingly, and commonly used a plain diet. He was 
particularly fond of coarse bread, small fishes, new cheese made 
of cow's milk, and green figs of the sort which bear fruit twice 
a year. He did not wait for supper, but took food at any time 
and in any place, when he had an appetite. The following 
passages relative to this subject, I have transcribed from his 
letters. "I ate a little bread and some small dates, in my 
carriage." Again. "In returning home from the palace in 
my Utter, I ate an ounce of bread, and a few raisins." Again. 
"No Jew, my dear Tiberius, ever keeps such a strict fast upon 
the Sabbath,^ as I have to-day. While in the bath, and after 
the first hour of the night, I only ate two biscuits, before I 
began to be rubbed with oil." From this great indifference 
about his diet, he sometimes supped by himself, before his com- 
pany began, or after they had finished, and would not touch a 
morsel at table with his guests. He was by nature extremely 
sparing in the use of wine. Of all wines, he gave the preference 
to the Raetian, but scarcely ever drank any in the daytime. 
Instead of drinking, he used to take a piece of bread dipped in 

1 A festival originally held on December 17th in honor of Satumus, an 
ancient Roman deity. It became a general holiday, somewhat Hke our 
Christmas, and was celebrated with sacrifices, games, and the presenta- 
tion of gifts. On this occasion all classes, including the slaves, who enjoyed 
temporary freedom, gave themselves up to feasting and mirthful hcense. 

* The Jewish Sabbath, however, was not a day of fasting. 



C^SAR AUGUSTUS 225 

cold water, or a slice of cucumber, or some leaves of lettuce, or 
a green, sharp, juicy apple. . . . 

In person he was handsome and graceful, through every 
period of his life. But he was negligent in his dress; and so 
careless about arranging his hair that he usually had it done in 
great haste, by several barbers at a time. His beard he some- 
times clipped and sometimes shaved. He read or wrote during 
the operation. His countenance, either when talking or when 
silent, was calm and serene. . . . His eyes were bright and 
piercing. He was willing it should be thought that there was 
something of a divine vigor in them. He was likewise not a 
httle pleased to see people, upon his looking steadfastly at 
them, lower their countenances, as if the sun shone in their 
eyes. ... 

From early youth he devoted himself with great diligence 
and application to the study of eloquence and the other liberal 
arts. In one of his wars, notwithstanding the weighty aflfairs 
in which he was engaged, he is said to have read, written, and 
declaimed every day. He never addressed the Senate, the 
people, or the army, except in a premeditated speech, though he 
did not lack the talent of speaking on the spur of the occasion. 
And lest his memory should fail him, as well as to prevent the 
loss of time in getting up his speeches, it was his general practice 
to recite them. . . . 

He composed many tracts in prose on various subjects, some 
of which he read occasionally in the circle of his friends. . . . He 
likewise made some attempts at poetry. There is extant one 
book written by him in hexameter verse, of which both the sub- 
ject and title is Sicily. There is also a book of Epigrams, no 
larger than the last, which he composed almost entirely while he 
was in the bath. These are all his poetical compositions. 
Though he began a tragedy with great zest, becoming dissatis- 
fied with the style, he obliterated the whole. Upon his friends 
saying to him, "What is your Ajax doing?" he answered, "My 
Ajax has met with a sponge." . . . 

We have the following account of him respecting his belief 



226 THE MAKERS OF IMPERIAL ROME 

in omens and other superstitions. He had so great a dread of 
thunder and lightning that he always carried about him a seal's 
skin, by way of preservation. And upon any apprehension of a 
violent storm, he would retire to some place of concealment in 
an under-ground vault; having formerly been terrified by a 
flash of lightning, while traveling in the night. 



CHAPTER XX 
NERO: A ROMAN EMPEROR i 

After Livy, the greatest of Roman historians is Cor- 
nelius Tacitus (about 55-117 a. d.). One of his earlier 
works was a charming biography of his father-in-law, 
Agricola, the conqueror of Britain. It contains an interest- 
ing sketch of the history of the island under Roman rule. 
Tacitus also published a brief treatise on Germany, its 
geography, and its peoples. But the crowning work of 
his life was a history of Rome from Tiberius to Domitian. 
Of this narrative, issued under the two titles of Histories 
and Annals, only about one half is extant. The loss of 
so much of it is one of the great calamities of literature. 
In reading Tacitus we must always remember that he 
belonged to the aristocratic circle of nobles who regarded 
the empire with the bitterest hatred and who found little 
but evil in the emperors themselves. Tacitus is a power- 
ful writer, but he is as much a satirist as a historian. Even 
his account of Nero, that half-crazed wretch who for four- 
teen years sullied the imperial purple by his crimes, has 
probably been colored by the author's deep-seated preju- 
dices. Few pages of Roman history, however, present 
greater interest and fascination. 

98. Murder of Britannicus^ 
When a youth of seventeen, Nero obtained the throne 
through the influence of his mother, Agrippina. People, 

^ The Annals of Tacitus, translated by A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb. 
London, 1882. Macmillan and Co. ^ Tacitus, Annals, xiii, 15-17. 



2 28 NERO: A ROMAN EMPEROR 

indeed, suspected that she had poisoned her husband, the 
emperor Claudius, in order to obtain the succession for 
Nero, who was her son by a former marriage. Agrippina 
meant to be the real ruler of the Roman world, but she 
soon discovered that Nero had a will and mind of his own. 
It was not long before mother and son were bitter enemies. 
Then Agrippina declared that she would espouse the cause 
of the young Britannicus, who, as the child of the em- 
peror Claudius, had a better right to the throne than Nero 
himself. 

Nero was confounded at this threat, and as the day was near 
on which Britannicus would complete his fourteenth year, he 
reflected, now on the domineering temper of his mother, and 
now again on the character of the young prince, which a trifling 
circumstance had lately tested. It was sufficient, however, to 
gain for Britannicus wide popularity. During the feast of 
Saturn,^ amid other pastimes of his playmates, at a game of 
lot drawing for king, the lot fell to Nero, upon which he gave all 
his other companions different orders, and such as would not 
put them to the blush. When, however, he told Britannicus to 
step forward and begin a song, hoping for a laugh at the expense 
of a boy who knew nothing of sober, much less of riotous, society, 
the lad with perfect coolness commenced some verses which 
hinted at Nero's expulsion from his father's house and from 
supreme power. This procured him pity, which was the more 
conspicuous, as night with its merriment had stripped off all 
disguise. Nero saw the reproach and redoubled his hate. 

Pressed by Agrippina's menaces, having no charge against 
his brother ^ and not daring openly to order his murder, Nero 
meditated a secret device. He directed poison to be prepared 
through the agency of JuHus PoUio, tribune of one of the prae- 
torian cohorts, who had in his custody a woman under sentence 
for poisoning, Locusta by name, with a great reputation for 

1 The Saturnalia. See page 224, note i. 
* More properly, stepbrother. 



MURDER OF BRITANNICUS 229 

crime. That every one about the person of Britannicus should 
care nothing for right or honor, had long ago been provided 
for. He actually received his first dose of poison from his 
tutors, but it had no effect, as it was either rather weak or so 
qualified as not at once to prove deadly. But Nero, impatient 
at such slow progress in crime, threatened the tribune and 
ordered the poisoner to execution for prolonging his anxiety. 
. . . Then they promised that death should be as sudden as 
if it was the hurried work of the dagger, and a rapid poison 
of previously tested ingredients was prepared close to the 
emperor's chamber. 

It was customary for the imperial princes to sit during their 
meals with other nobles of the same age, in the sight of their 
kinsfolk but at a table of their own. . . . There Britannicus 
was dining. As what he ate and drank was always tested by 
the taste of a select attendant, the following device was con- 
trived. ... A cup as yet harmless, but extremely hot and 
already tasted, was handed to Britannicus. Then, on his refus- 
ing it because of its warmth, poison was poured in with some 
cold water, and this so penetrated his entire frame that he lost 
both voice and breath. There was a stir among the company; 
some, taken by surprise, ran hither and thither, while those whose 
discernment was keener, remained motionless, with their eyes 
fixed on Nero. The emperor, who still rechned in seeming un- 
consciousness, said that this was a common occurrence, because 
of a periodical epilepsy with which Britannicus had been afflicted 
from his earliest infancy, and that his sight and senses would 
gradually return. As for Agrippina, her terror and confusion, 
though her countenance struggled to hide it, visibly showed that 
she was clearly just as innocent as was Octavia,^ Britannicus' 
own sister. She saw, in fact, that she was robbed of her only 
remaining refuge, and that here was a precedent for parricide. 
Even Octavia, notwithstanding her youthful inexperience, had 
learned to hide her grief, her affection, and indeed every emotion. 
And so after a brief pause the company resumed its mirth. 
^ At this time she was already married to Nero. 



230 NERO: A ROMAN EMPEROR 

One and the same night witnessed Britannicus' death and 
funeral, preparations having been already made for his obse- 
quies, which were on a humble scale. . . . 

99. Murder of Agrippinai 

Britannicus was murdered in 55 a. d. Four years later, 
Agrippina herself, stained by many crimes, fell a victim 
to her son. 

... At last convinced that she would become too formidable 
Nero resolved to destroy her, merely deliberating whether it 
was to be accomplished by poison, or by the sword, or by any 
other violent means. Poison at first seemed best, but, were it 
to be administered at the imperial table, the result could not 
be referred to chance after the recent circumstances of the death 
of Britannicus. Again, to tamper with the servants of a woman 
who, from her familiarity with crime, was on her guard against 
treachery, appeared to be extremely difficult. Then, too, she 
had fortified her constitution by the use of antidotes. How, 
again, the dagger and its work were to be kept secret, no one 
could suggest, and it was feared, too, that whoever might be 
chosen to execute such a crime would spurn the order. 

An ingenious suggestion was offered by Anicetus, a freedman, 
commander of the fleet at Misenum,^ who had been tutor to 
Nero in boyhood and had a hatred of Agrippina which she 
reciprocated. He explained that a vessel could be constructed, 
from which a part might by a contrivance be detached when 
out at sea, so as to plunge her unawares into the water. 
"Nothing," he said, "permitted accidents so much as the sea, 
and should she be overtaken by shipwreck, who would be so 
unfair as to impute to crime an offense committed by the winds 
and waves? The emperor would add the honor of a temple 
and of shrines to the deceased lady, with every other display 
of filial affection." 

1 Tacitus, Annals, xiv, 3-5, 8-9. 

2 A promontory on the coast of Campania. 



MURDER OF AGRIPPINA 231 

Nero liked the device, favored as it was, also, by the particular 
time, for he was celebrating Minerva's five days' festival ^ at 
Baiae.^ Thither he enticed his mother by repeated assurances 
that children ought to bear with the irritability of parents and 
to soothe their tempers. Nero wished thus to spread a rumor 
of reconciliation and to secure Agrippina's acceptance through 
feminine credulity, which easily believes what gives joy. As she 
approached, he went to the shore to meet her (she was coming 
from Antium ^), welcomed her with outstretched hands, and con- 
ducted her to Bauli. This was the name of a country house, 
washed by a bay of the sea, between the promontory of Misenum 
and the Lucrine Lake. Here was a vessel distinguished from 
others by its equipment and seemingly meant to do honor to 
his mother. . . . 

It was a night of brilliant starlight with the calm of a tranquil 
sea. . . . Agrippina had with her two of her intimate attendants, 
one of whom, Crepereius, stood near the helm, while Acerronia, 
reclining at Agrippina's feet as she reposed herself, spoke joyfully 
of Nero's full repentance and of the recovery of the mother's 
influence. The vessel had not gone far when at a given signal 
the ceiling of the place, which was loaded with a quantity of 
lead, fell in, and Crepereius was crushed and instantly killed. 
Agrippina and Acerronia were protected by the projecting 
sides of the couch, which happened to be too strong to yield 
under the weight. But this was not followed by the breaking 
up of the vessel; for all were bewildered, and those too, who were 
in the plot, were hindered by the unconscious majority. The 
crew then thought it best to throw the vessel on one side and so 
sink it, but they could not themselves promptly unite to face 
the emergency, and others, by counteracting the attempt, gave 
an opportunity of a gentler fall into the sea. Acerronia, how- 
ever, who thoughtlessly exclaimed that she was Agrippina 
and implored help for the emperor's mother, was killed with 

^ On the 19th of March and the four following days. 
"^ A celebrated bathing resort of the Romans, located on the promon- 
tory of Misenum. ' On the coast of Latium. 



232 NERO: A ROMAN EMPEROR 

poles and oars, and such naval implements as chance offered, 
Agrippina was silent and was thus the less recognized; still, 
she received a wound in her shoulder. She swam away, then 
met some small boats which conveyed her to the Lucrine Lake, 
and so entered her house. ... 

The failure of the plot merely postponed the death of the 
intended victim. Anicetus, with a body of soldiers, was 
now dispatched to finish the bloody work. 

Anicetus surrounded the house with a guard, and having 
burst open the gates, dragged off the slaves who met him, till 
he came to the door of her chamber. ... A small lamp was in 
the room, and one slave-girl with Agrippina, who grew more and 
more anxious, as no messenger came from her son. . . . When the 
girl rose to depart, Agrippina exclaimed, "Do you also forsake 
me?" Looking around she saw Anicetus, who had with him 
the captain of the trireme, Herculeius, and Obaritus, a centurion 
of marines. "If," said she, "you have come to see me, take 
back word that I have recovered, but if you are here to do a 
crime, I believe nothing about my son; he has not ordered his 
mother's murder." The assassins closed in round her couch, 
and the captain of the trireme first struck her head \iolently 
with a club. Then with numerous wounds she was slain. . . . 

Many years before Agrippina had anticipated this end for her- 
self and had spurned the thought. For, when she consulted the 
astrologers about Nero, they replied that he would be emperor 
and kill his mother. "Let him kill her," she said, "provided he 
is emperor." 

100. The Great Fire at Romei 

The disaster, whether accidental, or treacherously contrived 
by the emperor ^ . . . was, however, more dreadful than any 
other which has ever happened to Rome by the violence of fire. 

^ Tacitus, Annals, xv, 38-39, 43-44. 

* The degree of Nero's responsibihty for the fire of 64 A. d. will never 
be known. Assuming that the conflagration was caused by Nero, he could 
hardly have chosen a worse time than that at which it actually occurred 



THE GREAT FIRE AT ROME 233 

It had its beginning in that part of the Circus which adjoins 
the Palatine and Caelian hills, where, amid the shops contain- 
ing inflammable wares, the conflagration broke out. It in- 
stantly became so fierce and so rapid from the wind that it 
seized in its grasp the entire length of the Circus. For here 
there were no houses fenced in by solid masonry, or temples 
surrounded by walls, or any other obstacle to interpose delay. 
The blaze in its fury ran first through the level portions of the 
city. Then, rising to the hills, while it again devastated every 
place below them, it outstripped all preventive measures; so 
rapid was the mischief and so completely at its mercy the city, 
with those narrow winding passages and irregular streets, which 
characterized old Rome. . . . 

Nero at this time was at Antium, and did not return to Rome 
until the fire approached his house, which he had built to con- 
nect the palace with the gardens of Maecenas. It could not, 
however, be stopped from devouring the palace, the house, and 
everything around it. However, to relieve the people, driven 
out homeless as they were, he threw open to them the Campus 
Martius and the public buildings of Agrippa, and even his own 
gardens, and raised temporary structures to receive the desti- 
tute multitude. Supplies of food were brought up from the 
neighboring towns, and the price of wheat was reduced to 
three sesterces ^ a peck. These acts, though popular, produced 
no effect, since a rumor had gone forth that, at the very time 
when the city was in flames, the emperor appeared on a private 
stage and sang of the destruction of Troy, comparing present 
misfortunes with the calamities of antiquity. . . . 

Rome, meanwhile . . . was not built up, as it had been after 
its burning by the Gauls ^ without any regularity, but with 
rows of streets according to measurement, with broad thor- 
oughfares, with a restriction on the height of houses, with open 

(the night of July 18-19). There was a full moon on the previous night, 
and consequently Nero's agents would have run great risk of detection. 
From this circumstance it has been argued that the fire was accidental. 
1 About fifteen cents. ^ See page 169. 



234 NERO: A ROMAN EMPEROR 

spaces, and the further addition of colonnades as a protection 
to the frontage of the blocks of tenements. These colonnades 
Nero promised to erect at his own expense. . . . Such changes, 
which were Uked for their utility, also added beauty to the new 
city. Some thought, however, that its old arrangement had 
been more conducive to health, inasmuch as the narrow streets, 
with the elevation of the roofs, were not equally penetrated by 
the sun's heat, while now the open space, unsheltered by any 
shade, was scorched by a fiercer glow. 

Such, indeed, were the precautions of human wisdom. The 
next thing was to seek means of propitiating the gods, and 
recourse was had to the SibylUne books,^ by the direction of 
which prayers were offered to Vulcan, Ceres, and Proserpine. 
Juno, too, was entreated by the matrons, first, in the Capitol, 
then on the nearest part of the coast, whence water was procured 
to sprinkle the fane and image of the goddess. And there were 
sacred banquets and nightly vigils celebrated by married 
women. . . . 

But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and 
the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief 
that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, 
to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted 
the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abomina- 
tions, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom 
the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during 
the reign of Tiberius, at the hands of one of our procurators, 
Pontius Pilatus.^ A most mischievous superstition, thus 
checked for the moment, again broke out, not only in Judea, 
the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things 
hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their 
center.^ Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who 

1 See page 178, note i. ^ Procurator of SjTia, 26-36 A. d. 

' The ignorance which Tacitus exhibits in regard to the Christians is the 
more remarkable because his friend, the Younger PHny, had learned some- 
thing about this new sect while a Roman governor in Asia Minor. See 
pages 250-252. 



DEATH OF SENECA 235 

pleaded guilty. Then, upon their information, an immense 
multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the 
city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was 
added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they 
were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or 
were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly 
illumination when daylight had expired. 

Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting 
a show in the Circus, while he mingled with the people in the 
dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for 
criminals who deserve extreme and exemplary punishment, 
there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, 
for the pubUc good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they 
were being destroyed. 

101. Death of Seneca 1 

Seneca, the famous Stoic philosopher, had been Nero's 
tutor and adviser from the emperor's earliest years. But 
the friendship of Nero was a dangerous possession. At 
last even Seneca had to face the doom which had already 
overtaken so many other noble Romans during those 
troubled times. He was accused of participation in a 
conspiracy against the emperor's life. The accusation 
was equivalent to condemnation. Nero sent him the 
imperial mandate to commit suicide. 

Seneca, quite unmoved, asked for tablets on which to inscribe 
his will. On the centurion's refusal, Seneca turned to his friends, 
protesting that, as he was forbidden to reward them, he be- 
queathed to them the only, but still the noblest, possession yet 
remaining to him, the pattern of his life. If they remembered 
this, they would win a name for moral worth and steadfast 
friendship. At the same time he called them back from their 
tears to manly resolution, now with friendly talk, and now with 
the sterner language of rebuke. "Where," he asked again and 
1 Tacitus, Annals, xv, 62-64. 



236 NERO: A ROMAN EMPEROR 

again, "are your maxims of philosophy, or the preparation of 
so many years' study against evils to come? Who knew not 
Nero's cruelty? After a mother's and a brother's murder, 
nothing remains but to add the destruction of a guardian 
and a tutor." 

Having spoken these and like words, he embraced his wife. 
Then, softening awhile from the stern resolution of the hour, he 
begged and implored her to spare herself the burden of perpetual 
sorrow, and, in the contemplation of a Hfe virtuously spent, to 
endure a husband's loss with honorable consolations. She de- 
clared, in answer, that she too had decided to die, and claimed 
for herself the blow of the executioner. Thereupon Seneca, not 
to thwart her noble ambition, from an affection which would 
not leave behind him for insult one whom he dearly loved, re- 
plied, "I have shown you ways of smoothing life; you prefer 
the glory of dying. I will not grudge you such a noble example. 
Let the fortitude of so courageous an end be alike in both of 
us, but let there be more in your decease to win fame." Then 
by one and the same stroke they sundered -with a dagger the 
arteries of their arms. . . . 

Nero, meanwhile, having no personal hatred against Paulina 
and not wishing to heighten the odium of his cruelty, forbade 
her death. At the soldiers' prompting, her slaves and freedmen 
bound up her arms and stanched the bleeding, but whether 
with her knowledge is doubtful. . . . 

Seneca, meantime, as the tedious process of death still 
lingered on, begged Statins Annaeus, whom he had long esteemed 
for his faithful friendship and medical skill, to produce a poison 
with which he had some time before provided himself. It was 
the same drug^ which extinguished the Hfe of those who were 
condemned by a pubHc sentence of the people of Athens. It 
was brought to him and he drank it in vain, chilled as he was 
throughout his limbs, and his frame closed against the efficacy 
of the poison. At last he entered a pool of heated water, from 
which he sprinkled the nearest of his slaves, adding the exclama- 

^ The poison hemlock. See page 127. 



DEATH OF PETRONIUS 237 

tion, "I offer this liquid as a libation to Jupiter the Deliverer." ^ 
He was then carried into a bath, with the steam of which he was 
suffocated, and he was burnt without any of the usual funeral 
rites. So he had directed in a codicil of his will, when even in 
the height of his wealth and power he was thinking of his life's 
close. 

102. Death of Petronius^ 

The compulsory suicide of another victim of the em- 
peror's hatred is thus described. 

With regard to Gaius Petronius, I ought to dwell a Uttle on 
his character. His days he passed in sleep, his nights in the 
business and pleasures of Ufe. Indolence had raised him to 
fame, as energy raises others, and he was reckoned not a de- 
bauchee and spendthrift, Uke most of those who squandered 
their substance, but a man of refined luxury. . . . 

It happened at the time that the emperor was on his way to 
Campania and that Petronius, after going as far as Cumae, 
was there detained. He bore no longer the suspense of fear or 
of hope. Yet he did not fling away life with precipitate haste, 
but having made an incision in his veins and then, according to 
his humor, bound them up, he again opened them, while he 
conversed with his friends, not in a serious strain or on topics 
that might win for him the glory of courage. And he listened 
to them as they repeated, not thoughts on the immortality of the 
soul or on the theories of philosophers, but light poetry and 
playful verses. To some of his slaves he gave hberal presents, 
a flogging to others. He dined, indulged himself in sleep, that 
death, though forced on him, might have a natural appearance. 
Even in his will he did not, as did many in their last moments, 
flatter Nero or Tigellinus or any other of the men in power. 
On the contrary, he described fully the prince's shameful 

1 It was usual with Greeks, when a party broke up, to drink to Zeus the 
Savior. Seneca, with gentle irony, imitates this custom in the hour of 
death. 

* Tacitus, Annals, xvi, 18-19. 



238 NERO: A ROMAN EMPEROR 

excesses . . . and sent the account under seal to Nero. Then 
he broke his signet-ring, that it might not be subsequently 
available for imperiUng others. 

The history of Nero's reign by Tacitus, as it has come 
down to us, breaks off abruptly with the last two years 
unchronicled. From other historians we learn that at 
length the unbridled license and tyranny of Nero's career 
stirred up rebellion. The legions proclaimed a new emperor 
(Galba), and the Roman Senate, so long subservient to 
Nero, declared him an outlaw. He fied from Rome and 
took refuge in a house outside the city, belonging to his 
freedman, Phaon. Nero's flight was known and soldiers 
were sent in search for him. "All who surrounded him 
pressed him to save himself from the indignities which 
were ready to befall him. Nero then ordered a pit to be 
sunk before his eyes, of the size of his body, arid the bot- 
tom to be covered with pieces of marble put together, if 
any could be found about the house; and water and wood 
to be got ready for immediate use about his corpse. He 
kept weeping and frequently saying, 'What an artist is 
now about to perish!' Meanwhile, when letters were 
brought in by a servant belonging to Phaon, he snatched 
them out of his hand, and there read, 'That he had been 
declared an enemy by the Senate, and that search was 
making for him, that he might be punished according to 
the ancient custom of the Romans.' He then inquired 
what kind of punishment that was; and learned that the 
practice was to strip the criminal naked, and scourge him 
to death, while his neck was fastened within a forked 
stake. At this Nero was so terrified that he took up two 
daggers which he had brought with him, and after feel- 
ing the points of both, put them up again, saying, 'The 
fatal hour is not yet come.' At one time he begged Sporus 



DEATH OF PETRONIUS 239 

to begin to wail and lament ; at another time he asked that 
one of them would set him an example by killing himself; 
and then again, he condemned his own want of resolution 
in these words, 'I yet live to my shame and disgrace: 
this is not becoming for Nero: it is not becoming. Thou 
oughtest in such circumstances to have a good heart. 
Come, then: courage, man!' The horsemen who had 
received orders to bring him away alive, were now ap- 
proaching the house. As soon as he heard them coming, 
he uttered with a trembling voice the following verse, 

' The noise of swift-heeled steeds assails my ears ' * 

and then drove a dagger into his throat, being assisted 
in the act by Epaphroditus, his secretary. A centurion 
burst in just as he was half-dead, and applied his cloak to 
the wound, pretending that he had come to his assistance. 
Nero made no other reply but this, 'It is too late': and ' Is 
this your loyalty?' Immediately after pronouncing these 
words, he expired. ... He had requested of his attend- 
ants as the most essential favor, that they would let no 
one have his head, but that by all means his body might 
be burnt entire. And this, Icelus, Galba's freedman, 
granted." 2 . . . 

1 Iliad, X, 535. 2 Suetonius, Nero, 49. 



CHAPTER XXI 

ROMAN LIFE AS SEEN IN PLINY'S LETTERS i 

Pliny (about 61-113 a. d.), called the Younger, to dis- 
tinguish him from his famous uncle, the Elder Pliny,^ 
was a Roman gentleman fitted by birth and education 
for a brilliant public career. He filled many offices of 
state, traveled extensively, knew everybody worth know- 
ing, and Hved a happy, useful life, surrounded by his 
books and his friends. Of his letters more than three 
hundred have been preserved. They do not rise to a very 
high level as literature; Pliny's letters seem stilted and arti- 
ficial when compared with the animated correspondence 
of Cicero. But there are few works by ancient authors 
which make pleasanter reading. Moreover, they afford 
us an attractive picture of Roman society during the most 
interesting period of the Early Empire. 

103. PUny's Wife^ 

As you ^ yourself are a model of the family virtues, as you 
returned the affection of your brother, who was the best of men 
and devoted to you, and as you love his daughter as though she 
was your own child, and show her not only the affection of an 
aunt, but even that of the father she has lost, I feel sure you will 

^ The Letters of the Younger Pliny, translated by J. B. Firth. 2 vols. 
London, 1900. Walter Scott. 

* See page 243, note 2. 
^ Pliny, Letters, iv, 19. 

* This letter was written to a lady named HispuUa, the aunt of Pliny's 
third wife, Calpurnia. 



PLINY'S WIFE 241 

be delighted to know that she is proving herself worthy of her 
father, worthy of you, and worthy of her grandfather. She 
has a sharp wit, she is wonderfully economical, and she loves 
me dearly. . . . Moreover, owing to her fondness for me, she 
has developed a taste for study. She collects all my speeches, 
she reads them, and learns them by heart. When I am about 
to plead, what anxiety she shows; when the pleading is over, 
how pleased she is! She has relays of people to bring her news 
as to the reception I get, the applause I excite, and the verdicts 
I win from the judges. Whenever I recite, she sits near me, 
screened from the audience by a curtain, and her ears greedily 
drink in what people say to my credit. She even sings my 
verses and sets them to music, though she has no master to teach 
her but love, which is the best instructor of all. Hence, I feel 
perfectly assured that our mutual happiness will be lasting, and 
will continue to grow day by day. For she loves in me not my 
youth or my person — both of which are subject to gradual 
decay and age — but my reputation. . . . 

104. Pliny to his Wife Calpurnia^ 

You say that you are quite distressed at my absence, and that 
your only solace is to embrace my writings instead of me, and 
constantly to put them in the place I am wont to occupy. I 
am glad you miss me, and glad, too, that you find comfort in 
such consolations. I, in my turn, continually read over your 
letters, and take them up again and again as though they were 
new ones. Yet this only makes me feel your absence the more 
keenly, for if your letters have such a charm for me, you can 
imagine how sweet I find your conversation. However, do not 
fail to write as often as you can, even though your letters torture 
as well as delight me. 

105. A Visit to Spurinna^ 

I don't think I ever spent a more delightful time than during 
my recent visit at Spurinna's house. Indeed, I enjoyed myself 
1 Pliny, Lellcrs, vi, 7. ^ Ibid., iii, i. 



242 ROMAN LIFE AS SEEN IN PLINY'S LETTERS 

so much that, if it is my fortune to grow old, there is no one more 
than Spurinna whom I should prefer to take as my model in 
old age, as there is nothing more methodical than that time of 
life. Personally, I like to see men map out their lives with the 
regularity of the fixed courses of the stars, and especially old 
men. While one is young, a little disorder and rush, so to speak, 
is not unbecoming. But for old folks, whose days of exertion 
are past and in whom personal ambition is disgraceful, a placid 
and well-ordered life is highly suitable. That is the principle 
upon which Spurinna acts most religiously. Even trifles, or 
what would be trifles were they not of daily occurrence, he goes 
through in a fixed and regular order. 

In the morning he keeps his couch; at the second hour he 
calls for his shoes and walks three miles, exercising mind as 
well as body. If he has friends with him, the time is passed in 
conversation on the noblest of themes, otherwise a book is read 
aloud, and sometimes this is done even when his friends are 
present, but never in such a way as to bore them. . . . Then he 
sits down, and there is more reading aloud or more conversation. 
Afterwards he enters his carriage, taking with him either his 
wife or one of his friends. . . . After riding seven miles he 
walks another mile, then he again resumes his seat or betakes 
himself to his room and his pen. For he composes, both in 
Latin and Greek, the most scholarly poems. . . . When he is 
told that the bathing hour has come — which is the ninth hour 
in winter and the eighth in summer — he takes a walk naked 
in the sun, if there is no wind. Then he plays at ball for a long 
spell, throwing himself heartily into the game, for it is by means 
of this kind of exercise that he battles with old age. After his 
bath he lies down and waits a short time before taking food, 
meanwhile listening to the reading of some light and pleasant 
book. All this time his friends are at perfect liberty to imitate 
his example or do anything else they prefer. Then dinner is 
served, the table being as bright as it is modest, and the silver 
plain and old-fashioned. . . . The dinner is often relieved by 
actors of comedy, so that the pleasures of the table may have a 



PLINY THE ELDER 243 

seasoning of letters. Even in the summer the meal lasts well 
into the night, but no one finds it long, for it is kept up with 
such good humor and charm. 

The consequence of this mode of living is that, though 
Spurinna has passed his seventy-seventh year, his hearing and 
eyesight are as good as ever, his body is still active and alert, 
and the only symptom of his age is his wisdom. This is the 
sort of life that I have vowed and determined to forestall, and 
I shall enter upon it with zest as soon as my age justifies me 
in beating a retreat. . . . 

106. Pliny the Elder 1 

. . . Does it surprise you that a busy man like my uncle ^ 
found time to finish so many volumes, many of which deal with 
such minute details? You will wonder the more when I tell 
you that for many years he pleaded in the law courts, that he 
died in his fifty-seventh year, and that in the interval his time 
was taken up and his studies were hindered by the important 
offices he held and the duties arising out of his friendship with 
the emperors. But he possessed a keen intellect; he had a 
marvelous capacity for work, and his powers of application 
were enormous. . . . He could sleep at call, and sleep would 
come upon him and leave him in the middle of his work. 
Before daybreak he would go to Vespasian ^ — for he too 
was a night-worker — and then set about his official duties. 
On his return home he would again give to study any time 
that he had free. Often in summer, after taking a meal, which 
with him was always a simple and light one, he would lie in 
the sun if he had any time to spare, and a book would be read 
aloud, from which he would take notes and extracts. He never 
read without taking extracts, and used to say that there never 
was a book so bad that was not good in some passage or 

' Pliny, Letters, iii, 5. 

* Pliny the Elder (23-79 A. d.) was the greatest scholar of his time. 
Among other works he published a Natural History, really a colossal ency- 
clopedia of all knowledge. He perished in the eruption of Vesuvius. 

' Emperor, 69-79 a. d. 



244 ROMAN LIFE AS SEEN IN PLINY'S LETTERS 

another. After his sun bath he usually bathed in cold water, 
then he took a bite and a brief nap, and subsequently, as though 
another day had begun, he would study till dinner-time. After 
dinner a book would be read aloud, and he would take notes in 
a cursory way. I remember that one of his friends, when the 
reader pronounced a word wrongly, checked him and made him 
read it again, and my uncle said to him, "Did you not catch the 
meaning?" When his friend said "Yes," he remarked, "Why 
then did you make him turn back? We have lost more than 
ten lines through your interruption." So jealous was he of 
every moment lost. . . . 

Such was the application which enabled him to compile a 
great number of literary works. He left me, besides, one hun- 
dred and sixty commonplace books, written on both sides of 
the scrolls, and in a very small handwriting, which really makes 
the number of the volumes considerably more. ... So I often 
smile, when some of my friends call me a book-worm, for if I 
compare myself with him I am but a shocking idler. . . . 

107. Treatment of Children i 

A friend of mine was thrashing his son for spending money 
too lavishly in buying horses and dogs. When the youth had 
gone, I said to the father, " Come now, did you never commit 
a fault, for which your father might have reproved you? Why, 
of course you have. Do you not now and then still commit 
actions for which your son would also severely reprimand 
you, if your positions were suddenly changed, and he became 
the father and you the son? Are not all men liable to make 
mistakes? Does not one man indulge himself in one way and 
another in another? " I was so struck with this man's undue 
severity that I have written and told you about it, out of the 
affection we bear one another, so that you may never act with 
undue bitterness and harshness toward your son. Remember 
that he is a boy and that you have been a boy yourself. And in 

1 Pliny, Letters, ix, 12. 



TREATMENT OF SLAVES 245 

exercising your parental authority, do not forget that you are a 
man and the father of a man. 

108. Slaves' Vengeance* 

A shocking affair, worthy of more pubUcity than a letter can 
bestow, has befallen Largius Macedo, a man of praetorian rank, 
at the hands of his own slaves. He was known to be an over- 
bearing and cruel master, and one who forgot — or rather re- 
membered too keenly — that his own father had been a slave. 
He was bathing at his villa near Formiae,^ when he was sud- 
denly surrounded by his slaves. One seized him by the throat, 
another struck him on the forehead, and others smote him in 
the chest. . . . When they thought the breath had left his body 
they flung him on to the hot tiled floor to see if he was still 
alive. Whether he was insensible, or merely pretended to be 
so, he certainly did not move, and lying there at full length, he 
made them think that he was actually dead. At length they 
carried him out, as though he had been overcome by the heat, and 
handed him over to his more trusty servants, while his women 
ran shrieking and wailing to his side. Aroused by their cries 
and restored by the coolness of the room where he lay, he opened 
his eyes and moved his limbs, betraying thereby that he was 
still alive, as it was then safe to do so. His slaves took to 
flight; most of them have been captured, but some are still 
being hunted for. Thanks to the attentions he received, Macedo 
was kept alive for a few days and had the satisfaction of full 
vengeance before he died, for he exacted the same punishment 
while he still lived as is usually taken when the victim of a 
murder dies. You see the dangers, the affronts and insults 
we are exposed to, and no one can feel at all secure because he 
is an easy and mild-tempered master. . . . 

109. On the Treatment of Slaves » 

I have been greatly upset by illness in my household, some 
of my servants having died, and at an early age. I have two 
* Pliny, Letters, iii, 14. ^ See page 259. ' Pliny, Letters, viii, 16. 



246 ROMAN LIFE AS SEEN IN PLINY'S LETTERS 

consolations, which, though they are by no means equivalent 
to my grief, do certainly afford me comfort. One is, that I 
have been generous in giving them their freedom. . . . The 
other is, that I allow my slaves to make, as it were, valid wills, 
and I preserve them as if they were strictly legal documents. 
My slaves lay their commissions and requests before me just 
as they please, and I carry them out as though I were obeying 
an order. They have full power to divide their property and 
leave donations and bequests as they will, provided that the 
beneficiaries are members of my household, for with slaves their 
master's house takes the place of commonwealth and state. 

Though I have these consolations to make my mind easier, 
I feel shattered and broken by just that same sense of common 
humanity which led me to grant them these indulgences. Not 
that I wish I was harder of heart. I am quite aware that there 
are other people who call misfortunes of this kind a mere 
pecuniary loss, and plume themselves thereon as great men 
and wise. Whether they are great and wise I do not know, but 
they certainly are not men. The true man is sensible to pain 
and feeling. . . . 

110. A Gladiatorial Show at Verona > 

You did quite right in promising a gladiatorial display to my 
clients at Verona,^ for they have long loved you, looked up to 
you, and honored you. You took from that city your dearly 
loved and most estimable wife, and you owe to her memory 
some public work or festival, and a gladiatorial show is most 
suitable for a funeral honor. Besides, as the people were so 
unanimous in asking for that form of entertainment, you would 
have appeared boorish rather than consistent had you refused. 
... I wish that the numerous African panthers you had bought 
had turned up by the appointed day, but it may be that they 
were detained by stress of weather. At any rate you have 
deserved the fullest credit for them, for it was not your fault 
that the exhibition was incomplete. 

1 Pliny, Letters, vi, 34. ^ A city of Gallia Cisalpina. 



THE GAMES OF THE CIRCUS 247 

111. The Games of the Circus 1 

I have been spending all my time here among my tablets 
and books, as quietly as I could wish. "How is that possible," 
you ask, "in Rome?" Well, the Circensian ^ games have been 
on, and that is a kind of spectacle which has not the slightest 
attraction for me. There is no novelty, no variety in it, nothing 
which one wants to see twice. Hence I am the more amazed 
that so many thousands of men should be eager, like a pack of 
children, to see horses running time after time, and the chariot- 
eers bending over their cars. There might be some reason for 
their enthusiasm if it was the speed of the horses or the skill of 
the drivers that was the attraction, but it is the racing-colors ^ 
which they favor, and the racing-colors which fire their love. . . . 
I really feel a sort of pleasure in the thought that what they take 
delight in has no charm for me. Thus it is that I have been 
only too glad to pass my leisure time among my books during 
the race-meeting, while others have been wasting their days in 
the most idle occupations. 

112. Entertainments at Banquets^ 

I have received your letter in which you complain how offen- 
sive to you a really magnificent banquet was, owing to the 
fact that there were buffoons, dancers, and jesters going round 
from table to table. Ah ! mil you never relax that severe frown 
of yours, even a Uttle? For my own part, I do not provide any 
such entertainments as those, but I can put up with people who 
do. Why then do I not provide them myself? For this reason, 
that if any dancer makes an improper movement, if a buffoon 
is impudent, or a jester makes a senseless fool of himself, it does 
not amuse me at all, for I see no novelty or fun in it. I am 

' Pliny, Letters, ix, 6. 

^ The chariot races were held in the Circus Maximus. 

' The chariots and horses were supplied by rival companies, each indicat- 
ing its drivers by a distinguishing color. The spectators supported one 
or other of these colors. 

* Pliny, Letters, ix, 17. 



248 ROMAN LIFE AS SEEN IN PLINY'S LETTERS 

not giving you a high moral reason, but am only telling you my 
individual taste. Yet think how many people there are who 
would regard with disfavor, as partly insipid and partly weari- 
some, the entertainments which charm and attract you and me. 
When a reader, or a musician, or a comic actor enters the ban- 
queting-room, how many there are who call for their shoes or 
lie back on their couches just as completely bored as you were, 
when you endured what you describe as those monstrosities. 
Let us then make allowances for what pleases other people, so 
that we may induce others to make allowances for us. 

113. The Eruption of Vesuvius, 79 a.d.' 

You say that the letter ^ which I wrote to you at your request, 
describing the death of my uncle,* has made you anxious to 
know not only the terrors, but also the distress I suffered while 
I remained behind at Misenum. I had, indeed, started to tell 
you of these, but then broke off. Well, though my mind shud- 
ders at the recollection, I will essay the task. . . . 

For many days previous there had been slight shocks of earth- 
quake, which were not particularly alarming, because they are 
common enough in Campania. But on that night the shocks 
were so intense that everything round us seemed not only to 
be disturbed, but to be tottering to its fall. My mother 
rushed into my bedchamber, just as I myself was getting up 
in order to arouse her, if she was still sleeping. We sat down 
in the courtyard of the house, which was of small size and lay 
between the sea and the buildings. . . . 

It was now the first hour of the day, but the light was still 
faint and weak. . . . Soon a black, fearful cloud of fiery 
vapor descended upon the earth and . . . covered the whole 

' Pliny, Letters, vi, 20. 

2 This refers to a previous letter addressed to Pliny's friend, the famous 
historian Tacitus. 

* In his anxiety to study more closely the extraordinary spectacle of 
the eruption, Pliny the Elder ventured too near the zone of danger and 
perished. 



THE ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS 249 

bay. It encircled Capreae * and hid it from sight, and we could 
no longer see the promontory of Misenum. Then my mother 
prayed, entreated, and commanded me to fly as best I could, 
saying that I was young and could escape, while she was old 
and infirm, and would not fear to die, if only she knew that she 
had not been the cause of my death. I replied that I would 
not save myself unless I could save her too, and so, after taking 
tight hold of her hand, I forced her to quicken her steps. She 
reluctantly obeyed, accusing herself for retarding my flight. 
Then the ashes began to fall, but not thickly. I looked back, 
and a dense blackness was rolling up behind us, which spread 
itself over the ground and followed Uke a torrent. "Let us 
turn aside," I said, "while we can still see, lest we be thrown 
down in the road and trampled on in the darkness by the 
thronging crowd." 

We were considering what to do, when the blackness of night 
overtook us, not that of a moonless or cloudy night, but the 
blackness of pent-up places which never see the Ught. You 
could hear the wailing of women, the screams of little children, 
and the shouts of men. Some were trying to find their parents, 
others their children, others their wives, by calling for them and 
recognizing them by their voices alone. Some were commiserat- 
ing their own lot, others that of their relatives, while some again 
prayed for death in sheer terror of dying. Many were lifting 
up their hands to the gods, but more were declaring that now 
there were no longer any gods, and that this night would last 
forever, and be the end of all the world. Nor were there want- 
ing those who added to the real perils by inventing new and 
false terrors, for some said that part of Misenum was in ruins 
and the rest in flames, and though the tale was untrue, it 
found ready beUevers. 

A gleam of light now appeared, which seemed to us not so 

much daylight as a token of the approaching fire. The latter 

remained at a distance, but the darkness came on again, and the 

ashes once more fell thickly and heavily. We had to keep rising 

1 A small island off the Bay of Naples (the modem Capri). 



250 ROMAN LIFE AS SEEN IN PLINY'S LETTERS 

and shaking the latter off us, or we should have been buried by 
them and crushed by their weight. I might boast that not one 
groan or cowardly exclamation escaped my lips, despite these 
perils, had I not believed that I and the world were perishing 
together — a miserable consolation, indeed, yet one which a 
mortal creature finds very soothing. 

At length the blackness became less dense, and dissipated, as 
it were, into smoke and cloud. Then came the real light of day, 
and the sun shone out, but as blood-red as it is wont to be at its 
setting. Our still trembling eyes saw that everything had been 
transformed, and covered with a deep layer of ashes, like snow. 
Making our way back to Misenum, we refreshed our bodies as 
best we could, and passed an anxious, troubled night, hovering 
between hope and fear. . . . 

114. Pliny to Trajan regarding the Christians i 

It is my custom. Sir, to refer to you in all cases where I do not 
feel sure, for who can better direct my doubts or inform my 
ignorance? ^ I have never been present at any legal examination 
of the Christians, and I do not know, therefore, what are the 
usual penalties passed upon them or the limits of those penalties, 
or how searching an inquiry should be made. ... In the mean- 
time, this is the plan which I have adopted in the case of those 
Christians who have been brought before me. I ask them if 
they are Christians. If they say they are, then I repeat the 
question a second and a third time, warning them of the pen- 
alties it entails, and if they still persist, I order them to be 
taken away to prison. For I do not doubt that, whatever the 
character of the crime may be which they confess, their per- 
tinacity and inflexible obstinacy certainly ought to be punished. 
There were others who showed similar mad folly whom I 
reserved to be sent to Rome, as they were Roman citizens. 

1 Pliny, Letters, x, 98. 

2 This letter was written to the emperor Trajan, when Pliny was acting 
as governor of the province of Pontus and Bithynia in Asia Minor. The 
year was probably 11 1 A. d. 



PLINY TO TRAJAN 251 

As is usually the way, the very fact of my taking up this 
question led subsequently to a great increase of accusations, and 
a variety of cases were brought before me. A pamphlet was 
issued anonymously, containing the names of a number of 
people. Those who denied that they were or had been Christians 
and called upon the gods in the usual formula, reciting the words 
after me, those who offered incense and wine before your image 
... all such I considered should be discharged, especially as 
they cursed the name of Christ. This is something, it is said, 
which those who are really Christians cannot be induced to do. 
Others, whose names were given me by an informer, first said 
that they were Christians and afterwards denied it, declaring 
that they had been but were so no longer, some of them having 
recanted many years before, and more than one as long as 
twenty years back. They all worshiped your image and the 
statues of the deities, and cursed the name of Christ. 

But they declared that the sum of their guilt or their error 
only amounted to this, that on a stated day they had been ac- 
customed to meet before daybreak and to recite a hymn among 
themselves to Christ, as though he was a god. They added, 
that so far from binding themselves by oath to commit any 
crime, their oath was to abstain from theft, robbery, adultery, 
and from breach of faith, and not to deny trust money placed in 
their keeping when called upon to dehver it. When this cere- 
mony was concluded, it had been their custom to depart and 
meet again to take food, but it was of no special character and 
quite harmless, and they had ceased this practice after the edict 
in which, in accordance with your orders, I had forbidden all 
secret societies. I thought it the more necessary, therefore, to 
find out what truth there was in these statements by submit- 
ting two women, who were called deaconesses, to the torture, 
but I found nothing but a debased superstition carried to great 
lengths. So I postponed my examination, and immediately 
consulted you. 

The matter seems to me worthy of your consideration, espe- 
cially as there are so many people involved in the danger. 



252 ROMAN LIFE AS SEEN IN PLINY'S LETTERS 

Many persons of all ages, and of both sexes alike, are being 
brought into peril of their lives by their accusers, and the 
process will go on. For the contagion of this superstition has 
spread, not only through the free cities, but into the villages and 
the rural districts, and yet it seems to me that it can be 
checked and set right. It is beyond doubt that the temples, 
which have been almost deserted, are beginning again to be 
thronged with worshipers, that the sacred rites which have for 
a long time been allowed to lapse are now being renewed, and 
that the food for the sacrificial victims is once more finding a 
sale, whereas, up to recently, a buyer was hardly to be found. 
From this it is easy to infer what vast numbers of people 
might be reclaimed, if only they were given an opportunity of 
repentance. 

115. Trajan in Answer to Pliny ^ 

You have adopted the proper course, my dear Pliny, in ex- 
amining into the cases of those who have been denounced to you 
as Christians, for no hard and fast rule can be laid down to meet 
a question of such wide extent. The Christians are not to be 
hunted out. If they are brought before you and the offense is 
proved, they are to be punished, but with this reservation — 
that if anyone denies that he is a Christian and makes it clear 
that he is not, by offering prayers to our deities, then he is 
to be pardoned because of his recantation, however suspicious 
his past conduct may have been. But pamphlets published 
anonymously must not carry any weight whatever, no matter 
what the charge may be, for they are not only a precedent of 
the very worst type, but they are not in consonance with the 
spirit of our age. 

1 Pliny, Letters, x, 99. 



CHAPTER XXII 
A SATIRIST OF ROMAN SOCIETY i 

Martial (about 40-104 a. d.), the friend and contempo- 
rary of Pliny the Younger, was a satiric poet whose business 
it was to see only the unpleasant and evil side of Roman 
Hfe. In a letter composed shortly after Martial's death, 
Pliny says very aptly of him: "He was a man of genius, 
witty and caustic, yet one who in his writings showed as 
much candor as he did biting wit and ability to sting." ^ 
Martial was the author of more than twelve hundred epi- 
grams, each a brief poem, the concentration of satire and 
pointed invective. From Martial, as well as from Pliny, 
we can learn a great deal about Roman society during the 
first century of the empire. 

116. Some "Characters" of the Capital City' 

But a short time since, Calenus, you had not quite two millions 
of sesterces;'* but you were so prodigal and open-handed and hos- 
pitable, that all your friends wished you ten millions. Heaven 
heard the wish and our prayers; and within, I think, six months, 
four deaths gave you the desired fortune. But you, as if ten 
millions had not been left to you, but taken from you, con- 
demned yourself to such abstinence, wretched man, that you 
prepare even your most sumptuous feasts ... at the cost of 
but a few dirty pieces of black coin. So we, seven of your old 

^ The Epigrams of Martial translated into English Prose. London, i860. 
George Bell and Sons. 
2 Letters, iii, 21. 

' Martial, Epigrams, i, 99; iii, 62; vi, 59; x, 31; iii, 44; xi, 56. 
* About $100,000. 



254 A SATIRIST OF ROMAN SOCIETY 

companions, stand you in just half a pound of leaden money. 
What blessing are we to invoke upon you worthy of such 
merits? We wish you, Calenus, a fortune of a hundred 
millions. If this falls to your lot, you will die of hunger. 

Because you purchase slaves at a hundred and often two 
hundred thousand sesterces; because you drink wines stored in 
the reign of Numa;^ because your not over-large stock of furni- 
ture cost you a million; because a pound weight of wrought 
silver costs you five thousand; because a golden chariot becomes 
yours at the price of a whole farm ; because your mule cost you 
more than the value of a house — do you imagine that such 
expenses are the proof of a great mind, Quintus? You are mis- 
taken, Quintus; they are the extravagances of a small mind. 

Baccara, desirous of exhibiting his six hundred fur mantles, 
grieves and complains that the cold does not attack him. He 
prays for dark days, and wind, and snow; and hates wintry days 
which are at all warm. What ill, cruel mortal, have our light 
cloaks, which the least breath of wind may carry off our shoul- 
ders, done you? How much simpler would it be for you to wear 
your fur cloaks even in the month of August. 

You sold a slave yesterday for the sum of thirteen hundred 
sesterces, in order, CalHodorus, that you might dine well once in 
your life. Nevertheless you did not dine well; a mullet of four 
pounds' weight, which you purchased, was the chief dish, the 
very crown of your repast. I feel incUned to exclaim, "It was 
not a fish, shameless fellow, it was a man, a veritable man, 
CalHodorus, that you ate." 

Do you wish to know the reason, Ligurinus, why no one 
willingly meets you; why, wherever you come, everybody takes 
flight, and a vast solitude is left around you? You are too much 
of a poet. This is an extremely dangerous fault. The tigress 
aroused by the loss of her whelps, the viper scorched by the 
midday sun, or the ruthless scorpion, are objects of less terror 
than you. For who, I ask, could undergo such calls upon his 
patience as you make? You read your verses to me, whether I 
1 A legendary king of Rome, the successor of Romulus. 



SOME GOOD ADVICE 255 

am standing, or sitting, or running, or about private business. 
I fly to the hot baths, there you din my ears. I seek the cold 
bath, there I cannot swim for your noise. I hasten to dinner, 
you stop me on my way. I sit down to dinner, you drive me 
from my seat. Wearied, I fall asleep, you rouse me from my 
couch. Do you wish to see how much evil you occasion? 
You, a man just, upright, and innocent, are an object of fear. 

When you extol death in such extravagant terms, Stoic * 
Chaeremon, you wish me to admire and respect your spirit. 
Such magnanimity arises from your possession of only a pitcher 
vnth. a broken handle, a cheerless hearth warmed with no fire, 
a mat, plenty of fleas, a bare bedstead, and a short toga that 
serves you both night and day. How great a man you are, that 
can think of abandoning dregs of red vinegar, and straw, and 
black bread! But let your cushions swell with precious wool, 
and soft purple covers adorn your couches; and let a favorite 
share your couch, who, when mixing the wine for your guests, 
tortures them with the ruddiest of lips, how earnestly then will 
you desire to live thrice as long as Nestor ^ and study to lose no 
part of a single day. In adversity it is easy to despise life; the 
truly brave man is he who can endure to be miserable. 

117. Some Good Advice' 

What cause or what presumption, Sextus, brings you to 
Rome? What do you expect or seek here? Tell me. "I will 
plead causes," you say, "more eloquently than Cicero himself, 
and in the three forums^ there shall be no one to equal me." 
Atestinus pleaded causes, and Civis; you knew both of them; 
but neither made enough to pay for his lodging. "If nothing 
is to be gained from this pursuit, I will write verses: when one 
has heard them, one will say they are Vergil's own." You are 

' During the first century of the empire the Greek philosophy of Stoi- 
cism gained many adherents at Rome. 

^ An old Greek chieftain at the siege of Troy. 

' Martial, Epigrams, iii, 38; x, 62; xi, 70. 

* The old Roman Forum, that of JuHus Ca;sar, and that of Augustus. 



256 A SATIRIST OF ROMAN SOCIETY 

mad; all that you see here shivering in threadbare cloaks are 
Vergils. "I will push my way among the great." That trick 
has found support for but two or three that have attempted 
it, while all the rest are pale with hunger. "What shall I do? 
Advise me: for I am determined to live at Rome." If you 
are a good man, Sextus, you will have to live by chance.' 

Schoolmaster, be indulgent to your simple scholars, if you 
would have many a long-haired youth resort to your lectures, 
and the class seated round your critical table love you. So 
may no teacher of arithmetic, or of swift writing, be surrounded 
by a greater ring of pupils. The days are bright and glow 
under the flaming constellation of the Lion, and fervid July is 
ripening the teeming harvest. Let the Scythian scourge with 
its formidable thongs, such as flogged Marsyas,^ and the 
terrible cane, the schoolmaster's scepter, be laid aside, and 
sleep until the Ides of October.^ In summer, if boys preserve 
their health, they do enough. 

Can you, Tucca, sell these slaves whom you bought for a 
hundred thousand sesterces apiece? Can you sell the weeping 
despots of your affection, Tucca? Do neither their caresses 
nor their words and untutored lamentations move you? If a 
quantity of hard cash is your object, sell your plate, your tables, 
your myrrhine vases, your estate, your house. Sell your old 
slaves, sell even your hereditary lands. Sell everything, wretched 
man, to avoid selling your young favorites. It was extravagance 
to buy them; who denies or doubts it? But it is far greater 
extravagance to sell them. 

118. Aspects of Life at Rome and in Italy* 

You may have a good dinner, Julius Cerealis, with me. If you 
have no better engagement, come. You may keep your own 

1 Since only the bad man can make sure of a living at Rome. 

^ Referring to the legend that Marsyas, the satyr, having challenged 
Apollo to a musical contest on the flute, and having been defeated, was 
flayed alive by the god for his presumption. See page loo. 

' Until October 15. 

* Martial, Epigrams, xi, 52; i, 104; iv, 8; xii, 57; x, 30; v, 20. 



ASPECTS OF LIFE AT ROME AND IN ITALY 257 

hour, the eighth; we will go to the bath together; you know 
how near the baths of Stephanus are to my house. Lettuce 
will first be set before you . . . and leeks cut into shreds; next 
tunny-fish, full grown, and larger than the slender eel, which 
will be garnished with egg and leaves of rue. Nor will there be 
wanting eggs lightly poached, or cheese hardened on a Velabrian 
hearth ; or olives which have experienced the cold of a Picenian 
winter. These ought to be sufiicient to whet the appetite. Do 
you want to know what is to follow? I will play the braggart, 
to tempt you to come. There will be fish, oysters . . . well- 
fattened fowl; dainties which not even Stella, except on rare 
occasions, is used to place before his guests. I promise you 
still more: I will recite no verses to you; while you shall be at 
liberty to read to me again your War of the Giants, or your 
Georgics, second only to those of the immortal Vergil. 

When we see the leopard wear upon his spotted neck a light 
and easy yoke, and the furious tigers endure with patience the 
blows of the whip ; the stags champ the golden curbs ; the African 
bears tamed by the bit; a boar, huge as that which Calydon^ is 
said to have produced, obey the purple muzzle ; the ugly buffa- 
loes drag chariots, and the elephant, when ordered to dance 
nimbly, pay prompt obedience to his swarthy leader — who 
would not imagine such things a spectacle given by the gods? 
These, however, anyone who sees the condescension of the lions, 
which the swift-footed timorous hares fatigue in the chase, dis- 
regards as an inferior attraction. They let go the little animals, 
catch them again, and caress them when caught. The latter 
are safer in their captors' mouths than elsewhere; since the lions 
dehght in granting them free passage through their open jaws, 
and in holding their teeth as with fear. They are ashamed to 
crush the tender prey, after having just come from slaying bulls. 
This clemency does not proceed from art ; the lions know whom 
they serve. 

* According to a Greek legend, the neighborhood of Calydon, in ^toHa, 
was once ravaged by a monstrous boar. It was finally slain by Meleager, 
aided by other heroes from all parts of Greece. 



258 A SATIRIST OF ROMAN SOCIETY 

The first and second hours of the day exhaust the cKents who 
pay their respects to their patrons ; the third exercises the lungs 
of the noisy pleaders; until the fifth, Rome employs herself in 
various occupations; the sixth brings rest to the fatigued; the 
seventh closes the day's labors. The eighth suffices for the 
games of the oily palestra; the ninth bids us press the piled-up 
couches at table. The tenth is the hour for my effusions, 
Euphemus, when your skill is preparing ambrosial delicacies, 
and our excellent Caesar ^ relaxes his cares with celestial nectar, 
and holds the little cups in his powerful hand. At that time 
give my pleasantries access to him; my muse with her free 
step fears to approach Jupiter in the morning. 

You ask why I so often go to my small domain at arid 
Nomentum ^ and the humble household at my farm? There is 
no place in town, Sparsus, where a poor man can either think 
or rest. One cannot live for schoolmasters in the morning, 
corn grinders at night, and braziers' hammers all day and night. 
Here the money-changer indolently rattles piles of Nero's rough 
coins on his dirty counter; there a beater of Spanish gold bela- 
bors his worn stone with shining mallet. Nor does the fanatic 
rabble of Bellona ^ cease from its clamor, or the gabbhng sailor 
with his piece of wreck hung over his shoulder; or the Jew boy, 
brought up to begging by his mother, or the blear-eyed huckster 
of sulphur. Who can enumerate the various interruptions to 
sleep at Rome? . . . You, Sparsus, are ignorant of such things, 
living, as you do, in luxurious ease on your Petilian domain.^ 
Your mansion, though on a level plain, overlooks the lofty hills 
which surround it. You enjoy the country in the city, with a 
Roman vine-dresser, and a vintage not to be surpassed on the 
Falernian ^ mount. Within your own premises is a retired 
carriage drive; in your deep recesses sleep and repose are 

1 The emperor Domitian. 
* A Sabine town, fourteen miles from Rome. 
' Goddess of war. * A villa on the Janiculum Hill. 

^ Falernian wine, from a district of northern Campania, was much prized 
by the Romans. 



ASPECTS OF LIFE AT ROME AND IN ITALY 259 

unbroken by the noise of tongues: and no daylight penetrates 
unless purposely admitted. But I am awakened by the 
laughter of the passing crowd; and all Rome is at my bedside. 
Whenever, overcome with weariness, I long for repose, I repair 
to my country-house. 

O delightful shore of salubrious Formiae ! ^ ApoUinaris, when 
he flees from the city of stern Mars, and wearied lays aside his 
anxious cares, prefers thee to every other spot. ... At Formiae 
the surface of the ocean is but Ughtly crisped by the breeze; and 
though tranquil, is ever in motion, and bears along the painted 
skiff under the influence of a gale as gentle as that wafted by 
a maiden's fan when she is distressed by heat. Nor has the 
fishing-line to seek its victim far out at sea; but the fish may be 
seen beneath the pellucid waters, seizing the line as it drops from 
the chamber or the couch. Were ^olus ^ ever to send a storm, 
the table, still sure of its provision, might laugh at his railings. 
For the fish-pool protects the turbot and the pike; delicate 
lampreys swim up to their master; deUcious mullet obey the 
call of the keeper, and the old carp come forth at the sound of 
his voice. But when does Rome permit him to partake of 
these enjoyments? How many days at Formiae does the year 
allot to him, closely chained as he is to the pursuits of the 
city? Happy gate-keepers and baihffs! These gratifications, 
provided for your masters, are enjoyed by you. 

If you and I, dear Martialis,' might enjoy our days together 
free from care — if it rested with us to dispose of our leisure 
time and to spend in each other's company a life of true ease 
— we should know no halls or mansions of lordly patrons, or 
vexatious lawsuits and troubles of courts, or proud family busts. 
We should enjoy, instead, carriage airings, conversation, reading, 
the Campus Martius,'' the shady porticoes, the Virgin water,^ 

^ A famous seaside resort in Latium, south of Rome. 

* God of the winds. ' JuHus Martialis, a friend of the poet. 

* The great athletic field of Rome. 

* Water brought by an aqueduct from Praeneste, twenty-three miles 
southeast of Rome. 



26o A SATIRIST OF ROMAN SOCIETY 

the warm baths. Such places would be our constant resorts, 
and such our daily occupation. As it is, neither of us lives 
for himself, but sees his good days flee from him and 
vanish; days which are ever being lost to us, and set down 
to our account. Should anyone, then, delay to live, when he 
knows how? 



CHAPTER XXIII 
THE GERMANS AS DESCRIBED BY TACITUS i 

The historian Tacitus, a contemporary of Martial and 
the Younger Pliny, was the author of a valuable treatise 
on the Germans. His little book, published in 98 a. d., 
gives us the first connected account of those blue-eyed, 
fair-haired barbarians whose inroads three hundred years 
after Tacitus were to break up the Roman Empire. The 
student should not forget, however, that during this time 
the German tribes along the Roman frontier had made 
considerable progress towards civihzation. The state- 
ments of Tacitus do not quite accurately describe their 
condition at the close of the fourth century a. d. More- 
over, there is no evidence that Tacitus had ever traveled 
in Germany and had observed the Germans at first-hand. 
His work is compiled from earHer Roman writings which 
have not come down to us. 

119. Land and People ^ 

For my own part, I agree with those who think that the 
tribes of Germany are free from all taint of intermarriages with 
foreign nations, and that they appear as a distinct, unmixed 
race, like none but themselves. Hence, too, the same physical 
peculiarities throughout so vast a population. All have fierce 
blue eyes, red hair, and huge frames, fit only for a su^idfen exer- 
tion. They are less able to bear laborious work. Heat and 

^ The Agricola and Germany of Tacitus and the Dialogue on Oratory, trans- 
lated by A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb. 2d edition. London, 1877. 
Macmillan and Co. * Tacitus, Germany, 4-5, 16, 26. 



262 THE GERMANS AS DESCRIBED BY TACITUS 

thirst they cannot in the least endure; to cold and hunger their 
climate and their soil inure them. 

Their country, though somewhat varied in appearance, yet 
generally either bristles with forests or reeks with swamps. . . . 
It is productive of grain, but unfavorable to fruit-bearing trees. 
It is rich in flocks and herds, but these are for the most part 
undersized, and even the cattle have not their usual beauty or 
noble head. Their number is chiefly regarded; they are the 
most highly prized, indeed the only, riches of the people. Silver 
and gold the gods have refused to them, whether in kindness or 
in anger I cannot say. . . . They care btit Kttle to possess or use 
them. You may see among them vessels of silver, which have 
been presented to their envoys and chieftains, held as cheap as 
those of clay. The border population, however, value gold and 
silver for their commercial utility, and are familiar with, and 
show a preference for, some of our coins. The tribes of the 
interior use the simpler and more ancient practice of the barter 
of commodities. . . . 

It is well known that the nations of Germany have no cities, 
and that they do not even tolerate closely contiguous dwellings. 
They Kve scattered and apart, just as a spring, a meadow, or a 
wood has attracted them. Their villages they do not arrange in 
our fashion, with the buildings connected and joined together. 
Every person surrounds his dwelling with an open space, either 
as a precaution against the disasters of fire, or because they do 
not know how to build. No use is made by them of stone or 
tile; they employ timber for all purposes, rude masses \^^thout 
ornament or attractiveness. Some parts of their buildings they 
stain more carefully with a clay so clear and bright that it re- 
sembles painting. They are wont also to dig out subterranean 
caves, and pile on them great heaps of dung, as a shelter from 
winter and as a receptacle for the year's produce. By such 
means they lessen the rigor of the cold. And should an enemy 
approach, he lays waste the open country, while what is hidden 
and buried is either not known to exist, or else escapes him from 
the very fact that it has to be searched for. . . . 



GOVERNMENT 263 

Land proportioned to the number of inhabitants is occupied 
by the whole community in turn, and afterwards divided among 
them according to rank. A wide expanse of plains makes the 
partition easy. They till fresh fields every year, and yet have 
more than enough land. Because of the richness and extent of 
their soil, they do not laboriously exert themselves in planting 
orchards, inclosing meadows, and watering gardens. Grain is 
the only produce required from the earth; hence even the year 
itself is not divided by them into as many seasons as with us. 
Winter, spring, and summer have both a meaning and a name; 
the name and blessings of autumn are alike unknown. 

120. Government ^ 

They choose their kings by birth, their generals for merit. 
These kings have not unlimited or arbitrary power, and the 
generals do more by example than by authority. If they are 
energetic, if they are conspicuous, if they fight in the front, they 
lead because they are admired. . . . They also carry with them 
into battle certain figures and images taken from their sacred 
groves. And what most stimulates their courage is that their 
squadrons or battahons, instead of being formed by chance or 
by a fortuitous gathering, are composed of families and clans.^ 
Close by them, too, are those dearest to them, so that they hear 
the shrieks of women, the cries of infants. They are to every 
man the most sacred witnesses of his bravery — they are his 
most generous applauders. The soldier brings his wounds to 
mother and wife, who shrink not from counting or even demand- 
ing them, and who administer both food and encouragement 
to the combatants. . . . 

About minor matters the chiefs deliberate, about the more 
important the whole tribe. Yet even when the final decision 
rests with the people, the affair is always thoroughly discussed 
by the chiefs. They assemble, except in the case of a sudden 
emergency, on certain fixed days, either at new or at full moon; 

1 Tacilus, Germany, 7, 11-12. 2 Groups of related families. 



264 THE GERMANS AS DESCRIBED BY TACITUS 

for this they consider the most auspicious season for the trans- 
action of business. . . . When the multitude think proper, they 
sit down armed. Silence is proclaimed by the priests, who have 
on these occasions the right of keeping order. Then the king 
or the chief, according to age, birth, distinction in war, or elo- 
quence, is heard, more because he has influence to persuade than 
because he has power to command. If his sentiments displease 
them, they reject them with murmurs; if they are satisfied, they 
brandish their spears. The most complimentary form of assent 
is to express approbation with their weapons. . . . 

Penalties are distinguished according to the offense. Traitors 
and deserters are hanged on trees, the coward, the unwarHke, 
the man stained with abominable vices, is plunged into the mire 
of the morass, with a hurdle put over him.^ This distinction in 
punishment means that crime, they think, ought to be pub- 
licly exposed, while infamy ought to be buried out of sight. 
Lighter offenses, too, have penalties proportioned to them; he 
who is convicted is fined a certain number of horses or of cattle. 
Half of the fine is paid to the king or to the state, half to the 
man whose wrongs are avenged and to his relatives. . . . 

121, Religion 2 

. . . The Germans do not consider it consistent with the 
grandeur of celestial beings to confine the gods within walls, or 
to liken them to the form of any human countenance. They 
consecrate woods and groves, and they apply the names of 
deities to the abstractions which they see only in spiritual 
worship. 

Augury and divination by lot no people cultivate more dili- 
gently. . . . They are also familiar with the practice of consulting 
the notes and the flight of birds. It is peculiar to this people 
to seek omens and monitions from horses. . . . White horses, pure 
from the taint of earthly labor, are yoked to a sacred car, and 
accompanied by the priest and the king, or chief of the tribe, 

^ The hurdle, filled with stones to cause it to sink, was placed over the 
head of the offender. ^ Tacitus, Germany, g-io. 



MILITARY CUSTOMS 265 

who note their neighings and snortings. . . . They have also 
another method of observing auspices, by which they seek to 
learn the result of an important war. Having taken a prisoner 
from the tribe with whom they are at enmity, they pit him 
against a picked man of their own tribe, each combatant using 
the weapons of his country. The victory of the one or the 
other is accepted as an indication of the issue. 

122. Military Customs 1 

. . . Their line of battle is drawn up in a wedge-like formation. 
To give ground, provided you return to the attack, is considered 
prudence rather than cowardice. The bodies of their slain they 
carry off even in indecisive engagements. To abandon your 
shield is the basest of crimes; nor may a man thus disgraced be 
present at the sacred rites, or enter their council. Many, indeed, 
after escaping from battle, have ended their infamy with the 
halter. . . . 

Young men attach themselves to warriors of mature strength 
and of long approved valor and become their followers. These 
followers vie keenly with each other as to who shall rank first 
\vith his chiefs; the chiefs vie with each other as to who shall 
have the most numerous and the bravest followers. It is an 
honor as well as a source of strength to be thus always sur- 
rounded by a large body of picked youths; it is an ornament 
in peace and a defense in war. . . . 

When they go into battle, it is a disgrace for the chief to be 
surpassed in valor, a disgrace for his followers not to equal the 
valor of the chief. It is an infamy and a reproach for life to have 
survived the chief. To defend him, to protect him, to ascribe 
one's own brave deeds to his renown, is the height of loyalty. The 
chief fights for victory; his vassals fight for their chief . . . .Feasts 
and entertainments, which, though inelegant, are plentifully 
furnished, are their only pay. The means of this bounty come 
from war and rapine. Nor are they as easily persuaded to 
plough the earth and to wait for the year's produce as to 
^ Tacitus, Germany, 6, 13-14. 



266 THE GERMANS AS DESCRIBED BY TACITUS 

challenge an enemy and earn the honor of wounds. Nay, they 
actually think it tame and stupid to acquire by the sweat of 
toil what they might win by their blood. 

123. Domestic Relations ^ 

Their marriage code is strict, and indeed no part of their 
manners is more praiseworthy. Almost alone among bar- 
barians they are content with one wife. . . . The wife does not 
bring a dower to the husband, but the husband to the wife. . . . 

With their virtue protected they hve uncorrupted by the 
allurements of pubhc shows or the stimulant of feastings. . . . No 
one in Germany laughs at vice, or do they call it the fashion to 
corrupt and to be corrupted. ... To Umit the number of their 
children or to destroy any of their subsequent offspring is 
accounted infamous, and good habits are here more effectual 
than good laws elsewhere.^ 

In every household the children, naked and filthy, grow up 
with those stout frames and Umbs which we so much admire. 
Every mother suckles her own offspring, and never intrusts it 
to servants and nurses. The master is not distinguished from 
the slave by being brought up with greater deUcacy. Both Uve 
amid the same flocks and He on the same ground, till the freeborn 
are distinguished by age and recognized by merit. The young 
men marry late, and their vigor is thus unimpaired. Nor are 
the maidens hurried into marriage; the same age and a similar 
stature is required. Well-matched and vigorous they wed, and 
the offspring reproduce the strength of the parents. . . . 

124. Private and Social Life ^ 

Whenever they are not fighting, they pass much of their time 
in the chase, and still more in idleness, giving themselves up to 

^ Tacitus, Germany, 18-20. 

^ It is probable that in this description Tacitus presents a somewhat 
ideahzed picture of the family hfe and domestic virtues of the early Ger- 
mans, to heighten the contrast with the deplorable state of social morality 
at Rome. ' Tacitus, Germany, 15, 17, 21-24, 27. 



PRIVATE AND SOCIAL LIFE 267 

sleep and to feasting. Thus the bravest and the most warlike 
do nothing. They surrender the management of the household, 
of the home, and of the land, to the women, the old men, and 
all the weakest members of the family. . . . 

They all wrap themselves in a cloak which is fastened with a 
clasp, or, if this is not forthcoming, with a thorn, leaving the 
rest of their persons bare. . . . 

No nation indulges more profusely in entertainments and 
hospitahty. To exclude any human being from their roof is 
thought impious; every German, according to his means, re- 
ceives his guest with a well-furnished table. When his supplies 
are exhausted, he who was just now the host becomes the guide 
and companion to further hospitality, and without invitation 
they go to the next house. It matters not; they are enter- 
tained with like cordiality. . . . 

On waking from sleep, which they generally prolong to a late 
hour of the day, they have a bath, oftenest of warm water, 
which suits a country where winter is the longest of the seasons. 
After their bath they take their meal, each having a separate 
seat and table of his own. Then they go armed to business, or 
no less often to their festal meetings. To pass an entire day 
and night in drinking disgraces no one. . . . 

A liquor for drinking is made out of barley or other grain, and 
fermented into a certain resemblance to wine.^ The dwellers 
on the river-bank also buy wine. Their food is of a simple kind, 
consisting of wild fruit, fresh game, and curdled milk. They 
satisfy their hunger without elaborate preparation and without 
delicacies. In quenching their thirst they are not equally 
moderate. If you indulge their love of drinking by supplying 
them with as much as they desire, they will be overcome by 
their own vices as easily as by the arms of an enemy. 

One and the same kind of spectacle is always exhibited at 

every gathering. Naked youths who practice the sport bound 

in the dance amid swords and lances that threaten their lives. 

Experience gives them skill, and skill again gives grace. Profit 

1 The liquor referred to is beer. 



268 THE GERMANS AS DESCRIBED BY TACITUS 

or pay is out of the question ; however reckless their pastime, the 
reward is the pleasure of the spectators. Strangely enough, 
they make games of hazard a serious occupation even when 
sober. So venturesome are they about gaining or losing, that, 
when every other resource has failed, on the last and final throw 
they stake the freedom of their own persons. The loser goes into 
voluntary slavery; though the younger and stronger, he suffers 
himself to be bound and sold. Such is their stubborn persistency 
in a bad custom; they themselves call it honor. Slaves of this 
kind the owners part with in the way of commerce, to relieve 
themselves also from the scandal of such a victory. . . . 

In their funerals there is no pomp; they simply observe the 
custom of burning the bodies of illustrious men with certain 
kinds of wood. They do not heap garments or spices on the 
funeral pile. The arms of the dead man, and in some cases his 
horse, are consigned to the fire. A turf mound forms the tomb. 
Monuments with their lofty and elaborate splendor they reject 
as oppressive to the dead. Tears and lamentations they soon 
dismiss; grief and sorrow but slowly. It is thought becoming 
for women to bewail, for men to remember, the dead. . . . 



INDEX AND PRONOUNCING 
YOCABULARY 



Note. — The pronunciation of all proper names is indicated either by a sim- 
plified spelling or by their accentuation and division into syllables. The diacrit- 
ical marks employed are those found in Webster's Neiv International Dictionary 
and are the following: 



vi as 


ill file. 


o as 


in old. 


oi as in oil. 


a " 


" senate. 


6 " 


" obey. 


cli " " chair. 


it " 


" care. 


o " 


" orb. 


S " " go. 


XI " 


" am. 


o " 


" odd. 


ng " " sing. 


a " 


" (k'eount. 


o " 


" soft. 


q " " ii]k. 


ii " 


" ilrm. 


(1 " 


" Cf'/unect. 


th " " ^hen. 


a " 


" ask. 


fl " 


•' use. 


th " " thin. 


a " 


" sofd. 


u " 


'• unite. 


tu " " nature. 


e " 


" eve. 


li " 


" lirn. 


c Ui " " verdure. 


e " 


" event. 


u " 


" up. 


K for ch as in Ger. ich, ach 


e " 


" 6nd. 


a " 


" circ(/s. 


N as in Fr. bon. 


e " 


" rec<?nt. 


ii " 


" menu. 


y " " yet. 


e " 


" maker. 


oo as in food. 


zh for z as in azure. 


I " 


" Ice. 


66 ' 


' " foot. 




1 " 


" 111. 


ou ' 


" out. 





188, note 2, 



wratli 
; his 



A-by'dos, 72, 74. 

A-cer-ro'ni-a, 231. 

Acha'a (a-ke'd), 80 
189. 

AchiEans, 27, note 2, 188. 

Achilles (d-kil'ez), his 
against Agamemnon, 
friend Patroclus slain by Hector, 
33 ; the shield of, described, 33- 
36 ; slays Hector, 36, 37 ; per- 
forms tiie funeral rites of Patro- 
clus, 37, 38; restores the body of 
Hector to Priam, 38; tomb of, 
visited by Alexander the Great, 
139. 

Ac-ra-di'na. 96, note 2. 

A-crop'o-lis, the Athenian, cap- 
tured by the Persians, 81, 82 and 
note 2. 

Ad ri-at'ic Gulf, 178. 

^'a-cus, 124. 

^ginetans (e-jl-ne't<his), the, 83. 



^-gos-pot'a-mi, l^attle of, 130, 
note 2. 

^-E rnil'i-us, Marcus, 178. 

^^ueas (e-neV/s), a Greek officer of 
the Ten Thousand, 117; a legen- 
dary Trojan hero, 1,54, 155. 

.iE'o lu.s, 259 and note 2. 

^i^^'qui-ans, 167. 168. 

^Eschines (fis'ki-nez), 182-135. 

^E-to'li-a, 257, note 1. 

Africa. 3, note 1, 24, 184. 

Ag-a-mem'non, 26, 27, 29, 33, 37. 

Ag-a-ris'ta, 55-57. 

A-ga'si as, 116. 

Ag-a-thar'cus, 105. 

Aglaurus (d-gl6'r«s), 82. 

A-gi'ip'iia, 2o3. 

Au-rip-pi'ua, mother of Nero, 227- 
232. 

A-hu-ra-Maz'da. 10, note 1. 

A'jax, 98 and note 4. 

Al'ba Lon'ga, 155. 



270 



INDEX 



Alcibiades (^1-si-bI'd-dez), per- 
suades the Athenians to under- 
take the Sicilian expedition, 91, 
106 ; anecdotes of his boyhood 
and early youth, 98-103 ; anec- 
dotes of his public career, 102- 
106; death of, 106, 107. 

Alcinous (S,l-sin'o-«s), palace of, 41, 
43 and note 1. 

Alc-m«'on, enriches himself at the 
expense of Cra?sns, 55 ; an ances- 
tor of Alcibiades, 97 and note 3. 

Alc-m8e-on'i-da% a noble Athenian 
family, 55, 60. 

Alesia (fl-le'shl-d), 314, 315, 317. 

Al-exan'der the Great, becomes 
king of Macedonia, 188 ; con- 
quers Asia Minor from Persia, 189 ; 
cuts the Gordiau knot, 189, 140; 
wins the battle of Issus and cap- 
tures the family of Darius, 140, 
141 ; addresses a letter to Darius, 
141 ; conquers Syria and Egypt, 
141, 143; visits the. Temple of 
Amon, 143, 143; wins the battle 
of Arbela and captures the Persian 
royal cities, 148 ; pursues Darius, 
143, 144 ; subdues Bactria and Sog- 
diana, 144, 145; capt\ires tiie Sog- 
dian Rock, 145, 146 ; invades India 
and overcomes Porus, 146, 147 ; 
returns to Persia through tlie des- 
ert of Gedrosia, 148, 149 ; liis plans 
for further conquests, 149 ; his 
sjieech to the Macedonian soldiers, 
150. 151 ; death of, 152 ; character 
of, 152, 153. 

Al-ex-an'dri-a, 330. 

Al'li-a, battle of the, 168, 183 and 
note 3. 

Alps, the, crossed by the Gauls, 
168 ; crossed by Hannibal, 174- 
176. 

A-ma'sis, II, 14, 30, 60 and note 2, 
61, 62. 

Am-bra'ci-a, 131. 

Am'mon, oasis, Persian expedition 
against, 31, 143, note 1 ; visited 
by Alexander the Great. 143, 143. 

Amon fii'm^m), oracle of the Egyp- 
tian god, 143 and note 1. 

Am-phic'ty-on-ic Council, 130. 

A-mu'li-us, 155. 

An-ab'a-sis, extracts, 109-119. 



Anabasis of Alexander, extracts, 
139-153. 

Andromache (an-drom'd-ke), 31, 
32. 

A-ni-ce'tus, 280, 333. 

Animals, worshiped by the Egyp- 
tians, 3, 4; superstitions of the 
Britons relating to certain, 309 ; in 
the Hercynian forest, 318, 314 ; ex- 
hibitions of, at Rome, 357. 

Annals of Tacitus, extracts, 328- 
237. 

An-ti'o-chus, 104. 

An-tip'a-ter, 185, 136. 

An'ti-um, 231 and note 3, 233. 

An-to'ni-us, Mar'cus (Mark An- 
tony), orations of CMcero against, 
199-302 ; pro.cures the murder of 
Cicero, 203, 303. 

An'y-tus, 100, 101. 

Ap'en-nine Mountains, 167. 

A'pis, sacred Egyptian bull, 31. 

A-pol'lo, 18, 48, note 3, 80, 81, 
note 1, 93, note 4, 99, 256, note 3. 

A-pol-lo-do'rus, 137. 

A-pol-lo'ni-a, 181. 

A-pu'li-a, 178, 183, note 1, 183. 

A-rax'es River, 18. 

Ar-be'la, battle of, 143, 144. 

Ar'chi-as, 185, 136. 

Ar-e-op'a-gus, Council of the, 81, 
note 3. 

A'res, god of war, 37 and note 3, 
34, 48, note 3, 93, note 4; Hill of, 
84. 

Argives (ar'jivz), 37 and note 3. 

Ar'gos, 15, 38, 31. 

Ar-i-o-vis'tus, 304, 

A-ris-to-bu'lus, 138. 139, 153. 

Ar-is-ton'y-mus, 116. 

Aristophanes (At is-tof'«-nez), 105 
and note 1. 

Ar-me'ni-a, 7, 19, 113, 113, 117, 

Ar'ri-an, his biography of Alex- 
ander tlie Great, 138. 

Ar-ta-ba'nus, 74. 

Ar-ta-pa'tes, 112. 

Artaxerxes (ilr-taks-tirk'sez), II, 
109, 111. 112. 

Ar'te-mis, 45 and note 1, 48. note 2. 

Ar-te-mis'i-a, queen of Halicarnas- 
sus, 88 and note 8, 84. 

Artemisium, battle of, 83 and note 
1, 134. 



INDEX 



271 



As-ca'ni-us, 155. 

As-cle'pi-us, 138 and uote 1. 

A'si-a Mi'uor, 107, 108, 139, 144, 
184, 234, note 2. 

Assembly, the Athenian, 91, 104, 
106, 122, 132. 

As-si-na'rus Kiver, 95. 

As-syr'i-a, 8, 112. 

As-ty'a-ges, 13. 

As-ty'a-nax, 31, 32. 

A-tes'ti-nus, 255. 

A-the'na, 28, 34, 41, 42, 48, note 2, 
59, 80, 99, 100, uole 1. 

Ath'cns, aids the Ionian Greeks, 
69, 70 and uote 2 ; receives no her- 
alds from Xer.xes, 71 ; captured 
by the Persians, 81 ; war declared 
between, and Sparta, 87 ; great- 
ness of, as described by Pericles, 
87-89; the plague at, 89-91; 
undertakes the expedition against 
Sicily, 91 ; departure of the Hcet 
from, 91, 92 ; fails to subdue Syr- 
acuse, 93 : loses both fleet and 
army in the Sicilian expedition, 
93-97; defeated by Pliilip at 
Chttronea, 132 ; revolts against 
Macedonia, 135. 

Athos (;\lh'o3_), Mount, 70, 72. 

Atreus (a'troos), 29. 

At'ti-ca, 58, 59, 81, 82, 86, 89. 

Aii-gus'tus. See Octavius. 

Au-i-e'li-a, 221. 

Av'en-tine Hill, 155. 

Bab'y-lon, description of, 6, 7 ; 

captureil by Alexander the Great, 

143 ; death of Alexander in, 151, 

152. 
Bab-y-lo'ni-a, productiveness of, 8. 
Bac'ca-ra, 254. 
Bae'tri-a, 143, 145. 146. 
Baia' (ba'ye), 222 and note 1, 231 

and note 2. 
Banquets, Roman, 247, 248, 256, 

257 

Bau'li, 231. 
Bcl'gi-um, 205. 
Bel-'lo'na, 258. 
Bel-Me-ro'daeh, temple of, at 

Babylon, 7. 
Bps'sus, 143, 145. 
Bi-thvn'i-a, 184, 188 and note 1, 

250, "note 2. 



Black Forest, 213, note 1. 

Bcpotia (be-o'shi-d), 9 and note 1, 
81. 

Bo-he'mi-a, 213, note 1. 

Bo're-as, the north wind, 113 and 
note 2. 

Bos'po-rus, 24, 25. 

Bri-a're-us, 47, 48. 

Britain (brlf'n), twice invaded by 
Julius Ctcsar, 206-209 ; his des- 
cription of, 209. 

Bri-tan'ni-cus, murder of, 228-230. 

Brit'ous, 149, 209, 210. 

Brit'ta-ny, 205. 

Bru'tus, Lu'ci-us Ju'ni-us, 160, 161, 
200. 

Bu-bas'tis, 4. 

CiEsar (se'zdr). Gains Julius, char- 
acter of, set forth by Cicero, 201 ; 
Ciniimeittaries on the Gdllic ^^'ar 
by, 204; campaigns in Germany 
and Britain by, 204-208 ; describes 
Britain and its inhabitants. 208- 
210 ; describes the Gauls, 210-214 ; 
crushes the Gallic rebellion under 
Vercingetorix, 214-217; personal 
traits of, according to Suetonius, 
218-221. 

Caieta (kd-ya'td),202. 

Ca-lau'ri-a,"l85 and note 2. 

Ga-le'nus, 253, 254. 

Cal'li-as, 102. 

Cal-lim'a-clius, 116. 

Cal-li-o-do'rus, 254. 

Cal-pur'ni-a, third wife of Pliny 
the Younger, 240, 241. 

Cal'y-dou, 257 and note 1. 

("a-lyn'di-an, 83. 

Cam-by'ses, adds Egypt to the 
Persian Empire, 20 ; failure of his 
expeditions against the Ethio- 
pians and Ammonians, 21 ; mad- 
ness of, 21, 22. 

Ca-mil'his, captures Veil, 168 ; ran- 
soms Rome with steel, 171 ; be- 
comes the second founderof Rome, 
171. 

Cam-pa'ni-a, 230, note 2, 237, 248, 
258, note 5. 

Cam'pus Mar'ti-us, 158, note 2, 
172 and note 1, 198, 233, 259 and 
note 4. 

Can'na", battle of, 180-185. 



272 



INDEX 



Capitol, the Roman, 166, 169, 170, 
172, 183, 234. See also Capitoline 
Hill. 

Cap'i-to-liue Hill, 157, 158, 169. 

Cappadocia (kap-a-do'shi-d), 108, 
noie 5, 140. 

Ca'pre-a3, 249 and note 1. 

Capri (kii'pre). See Capreje. 

Car-men'tis, Temple of, 170. 

Car'thage, 184, 191, 192. 

Cas'si-us, Lu'ci-U3, 220 ; Spu'ri-us, 
200 and note 2. 

Cut'i-liiie, Lu'ci-us, 196-199. 

Ca'to, M;ir'cusPor'ci-us, the Censor, 
186; anecdotes of his public career, 
186-189; censorship of, 189, 190; 
his private virtues, 190, 191; per- 
suades the Romans to undertake 
the Third Puuic War, 191, 192. 

Ce-re-a'lis, Ju'li-us, 256. 

Ceres (se'rez), 234. 

ChiB-re'mon, 255. 

Chferonea (k6r-o-ne'd), battle of, 
132, 133 and note 1, 138. 

Chalcidice (kal-sld'1-se), 86, note 1, 
129, 131 and note 1. 

Chaos (ka'Os), 46, 48. 

Children, Persian training of, 11 ; 
Spartan, 63-65; Pliny the younger 
on the treatment of, 244, 245 ; Ger- 
man, 266. 

Ciii'lou. 58. 

Chi-ris'o-phus, 115, 116. 

Christ, 234, 251. 

Christians, persecuted by Nero, 234, 
235 ; account of, by Pliny the 
Younger, 250-252 ; attitude of Tra- 
jan toward, 252. 

Christmas, 224, note 1. 

Cliris'tus. See Christ. 

Cicero (sls'er-o), Marcus TuUius, 
a Roman orator, statesman, and 
writer, 193 ; his Verrine orations, 
193-195 ; iiis orations against Cati- 
line, 196-199 ; his Philippics, 199- 
202 ; assassination of. 202, 203. 

Cilicia (sMlsh'I-d), 140. 

Cincinnatus (sin-si-na'tHs), legend 
of his dictatonship, 167. 

Circensian (ser-s6n'shdn) games, 
247 and notes 2, 3. 

Cir'cus Ma.x'i-mus, 233, 235, 247, 
note 2. 

Cis'si-ans, 77. 



Ci'vis, 255. 

Clau'di-us, 228. 

Cle-ar'chus, 109, note 2, 110, 111. 

Clis'the-nes, tyrant of iSicyon, 54, 
55; his trial of the suitors, 55-57. 

Cli'tus, 145. 

Clo'di-us, Pub'li-cus, 221. 

Clothing, Babylonian, 9 ; German, 
267. 

Clu'si-um, 161. 

Colchis (kol'kls), 118. 

Col'line Gate, 169. 

Commentaries on the Gallic War, 
extracts, 205-214. 

Companions, the Macedonian, 140 
and note 2, 147, 153. 

Cor-cy'ra, 85. 

Cor'inth, under the tyranny of the 
Cypselids, 53, 54 ; appeals to Sparta 
for aid against Athens, 85, 86; 
Panhellenic council at, 138. 

Co-ri-o-la'nus, legend of, 164, 165. 

Cos'mos, 222. • 

Cot'tus, 47, 48. 

Cre'on, 136. 

Cre-pe-re'ius, 231. 

Cre'tans, 119. 

Crito (kri'to), 125-128. 

Cra3sus (kre'sT^s), king of Lydia, 13, 
14 ; his interview with Solon the 
Athenian, 14-16; made prisoner by 
Cyrus the Great, 17; on the pyre, 
17, 18 ; proposes a stratagem, 19 ; 
his flattery of Cambyses, 21, 22; 
his treatment of Alcmaeon, 55. 

Cro'nus, 47, 51. 

Ctes'i-phon, 132. 

Cte'si-as, 112 and note 1. 

Cu'ma>, 178, note 1, 237. 

Cunaxa (ku-nak'sd), battle of. 111. 

Cupid (ku'pid), 105. 

Customs, Egyptian, 2-4; Babylo- 
nian, 9 ; Persian, 10-12 ; Spartan, 
65-68; British. 209, 210; Gallic, 
210, 211; German, 212, 213, 261- 
268. 

Cyclopes (sl-klo'pez), 47. 

Cvp'se-lus, first tyrant of Corinth, 
53. 

Cy'rus the Great, conquers Lydia 
and Babylonia, 17, 18; invades 
Asiatic Scythia, 18, 19; is defeated 
and slain by the Massagetge, 20. 

Cyrus the Younger, revolts against 



INDEX 



273 



King Artaxerxes, 108; leads an 
army of Greeks and Orientals from 
Asia Minor to Babylonia, 1U9-111 ; 
is slain at the battle of Cunaxa, 
111, 112. 

Dan'a-ans, 27 and note 3. 

Da-ri'us, I, the Great, how he be- 
came king of Persia, 22, 23; his in- 
vasion of European Scythia, 24, 
25, 69. 

Darius, III, last Persian king, de- 
feated by Alexander at the battle 
of Issus, 140; the family of, cap- 
tured by Alexander, 140, 141 ; a 
letter by Alexander to, 141 ; pur- 
suit and death of, 143, 144 ; his 
character, 144. 

De'los, island, 125. 

Delphi (del'fl), repulse of the Per- 
sians from, 80, 81. 

Delphic oracle, the, 16-18, 55, 80- 
82. 

De-me'ter, 47, 48, note 2. 

Demigods, Greek, 46, 51, 52 and 
note 1. 

De-mos'the-nes, an Athenian gen- 
eral at Syracuse, 93-96. 

Demosthenes, an Athenian orator 
and statesman, 129; his Third Phi- 
Upjyic, 129-132 ; liis Oration on the 
Crown, 132-135 : death of, 136-137. 

Dialogues of Plato, extracts, 120- 
128. 

Di-en'e-ces, 79. 

Di-o-me'des, 222. 

Dionysus (dl-o-nl's^s), 48, note 2. 

Doniitian (do-mlsh'l-(?n), 218, 227, 
258 and note 1. 

Do'rians, 12. 68, note 1. 

Do-ris'cus, 75. 

Dra-con'ti-us, 118, 119. 

Dru-en'ti-a River, 175. 

Dru'ids, priests of the Gauls, 210, 
211. 

Ec-bat'a-na, 143, 150, 151. 

E-chec'ra-tes, 127 and note 1, 128. 

Education, Persian, 11 ; Spartan. 63- 
67; in Gaul, 210, 211: Koman. 256. 

E'crypt, conquered by Gambyses, 
20 : revolt of, against Xerxes. 70 
and note 1 ; conquered by Alexan- 
der the Great, 142, 144. 



Egyptians, peculiar customs of, 1-5. 

E'lis, 131. 

Embalming, Egyptian practice of, 5. 

E-paph-ro-di'tus, 239. 

Ephesus (ef'e-s^ys), 103 and note 1. 

Eph-i-al'tes, 78, 79. 

Epigrams of Martial, extracts, 253- 

260. 
E-re'tri-a, 69. 

Erythraean (6r-i-thre'cm) Sea, 7. 
E-thi-o'pi-a, 21. 
E-tru'ri-a, 168. 177, 197, 198. 
E-trus'cans, 159, 161, 162, 165, 171. 
Euboea (ti-be'a), 83, 131. 
Eu-mai'us, 42-45. 
Eu-phe'mus, 258. 
Euphrates (ti-fra'tez) River, 6, 7, 

109, 113, 141, 148. 
Eu'rope, 24, 25, 149. 
Eu-ryl'o-chus, 116. 
Eu-rys'a-ces, 98. 
Eu'thv-phro, 121-123. 
Euxine (uk'sin) Sea, 112, 118, 119. 

Fa'bi-i, the, 165, 166. 

Fa'bi-us, Gai'us, 216 ; Quin'tus 
Fabius Max'i-mus, 177-180, 182. 

Fa-ler'ui-an wine, 258 and note 5. 

Fates, the, 155. 

Flam-i-ni'nus, 184, 185. 

Fla-min'i-us, 177, 178. 

Flu-men'tan Gate, 172. 

For'mi-n?, a Roman watering-place, 
245, 259 and note 1. 

Fo'rum, the Roman, 162, 169, 177, 
198, 223, 255, note 4. 

Funeral rites, Egyptian, 5 ; Persian, 
12 ; Homeric Greek, 37, 38 ; Ger- 
man, 268. 

Ga'bi-i, captured by Tarquin tlie 
Proud, 159, 160. 

Gtiea (je'r/), 47. 

Gal'ba, 238, 239. 

Gal'li-a Cis-al-pi'na, 246, note 2 ; 
Trans-al-pi'na, 204. 

Ganges (gan'jez) IMver, 148. 

Gaul, Tran.salpine. Campaigns of 
Civsar in, 204. 205, 214-217. 

Gauls, the, sack of Rome by, 168, 
169; repul.se of, from the Capitol, 
169, 170; defeated by Camillus, 
171; customs of, described by 
Julius Caesar, 210, 211. 



274 



INDEX 



Ga'za, 142. 

Ge-dro'si-a, 148. 

Ger'mans, described by Julius 

Caesar, 212, 213 ; described by 

Tacitus, 261-268. 
Germany, invasions of, by Caesar, 

205, 206, 214. 
Germany of Tacitus, extracts, 261- 

268. 
Gladiatorial shows, 246. 
Go'bry-as, 25. 
Gor'di-um, 139. 
Gor'di-us, 139. 
Gra-ni'cus River, battle of the, 139, 

144. 
Gycs (jl'ez), 47, 48. 
Gylippus (jl-lip'pMs), 96 and note 1, 

106. 

Hades (ha'dez), the underworld, 37, 
51. 

Hal-i-car-nas'sus, 83, note 3. 

Han'ni-bal, hero of the Second Pu- 
nic War, 174 ; captures Saguutum, 
174; crosses the Alps into Italy, 
175, 176 ; defeats the Koraaus in 
three pitched battles, 177 ; extri- 
cates his army by a stratagem, 
179 ; wins the battle of Cannaj, 180- 
183; fails to capture Rome, 183, 
184 ; loses the battle of Zama, 184; 
ends his life by poison, 184, 185. 

Has'dru-bal, 179/181. 

He'be, 48. note 2. 

Hec'tor, 31-33, 38. 

Hec'u-ba, 31 and note 1. 

Hel'en, 26, 30. 51. 

Hel'las, 89. 

Hel'les-pont, the, Persian bridge 
over, destroyed, 72 ; chastisement 
of, 72 ; passage of, by the Per- 
sians, 75, 81. 

Helvetii (h6l-ve'shi-I), 204. 

Hephaestus fhe-fes'tHs), 27 and 
note 1, 33, 36, 41, 50 and note 1. 

He'ra, 15, 28, 29, 47, 48, note 2. 

Her'a-cles, 48, note 2, 68, note 1, 
76, 118 and note 2. 

Her-a-cli'dse, 68 and note 1. 

Her-cu-le'ius, 232. 

Her-cyn'i-an forest, 218 and note 1. 

He-ren'ni-us, 202. 

Her'mes, 38, 48, note 2. 

Her-min'i-us, Ti'tus, 162. 



He-rod'o-tus, travels in the Orient 
by, 1 ; his account of the Egyp- 
tians, Babylonians, and Persians, 
1-12; his stories about Croesus, 
Cyrus, Canibyses, and Darius, 13- 
25; his anecdotes of Greek tyrants, 
53-62 ; describes the Persian inva- 
sion under Xerxes, 69-84. 

He'si-od, an early Greek poet, 46. 

Hes'ti-a, 47. 

Hindu-Kush' mountains, 145, 146. 

Hip-par'chus, 60. 

Hip-pa-re'te, 103. 

Hip'pi-as, 60, 82, note 1. 

Hippo-cli'des, 56, 57. 

Ilip-poc'ra-tes, 57, 58. 

Hip-po-ni'cus, 102. 103. 

His-pul'la, 240, note 4. 

lio'mer, 26, 89, 102. 

Ho-mer'ic poems, their picture of 
prehistoric Greek civilization, 26; 
plot of the Iliad, 26, 27 ; plot of 
the Odyssey, 38, 39. 

Horatius Codes (ho-ra'shl-ws ko'- 
klez), his defense of the Sublician 
Bridge, 161, 162. 

Hor-ten'si-us, 193. 

Hy-das'pcs River, 147, 148. 

Hyph'a-sis River, 147. 

I-ap'e-tus, 49 and note 1. 

I'ce-lus, 239. 

M'i-ad, extracts, 27-38. See also 

Homeric poems. 
I-lis'sus, stream, 121, note 1. 
Il'i-um. See Troy. 
"Immortals," the Persian, 73 and 

note 3, 77. 
In'di-a, invaded by Alexander the 

Great, 146-148. 
In'dus River, 148. 
I-o'ni-ans, 12, 69, 106. 
Iran (e-riin'), 145. 
Ire'land, 209. 
Islands of the Blest, 52. 
Is'sus, battle of, 140, 141, 144. 
It'a-lv, 168, 172, 174, 175, 177, 184. 

196," 197. 
Ith'a-ca, 38, 42, 45. 

Ja-nic-u-lum Hill, 161, 258, note 4. 
Ju-de'a, 234. 

Ju'li-a, sister of Julius Cfesar, 221; 
granddaughter of Augustus, 223. 



INDEX 



275 



Ju'no, 168, 170, 234. 
Ju'pi-ter, 178, 197, 237, 258. 

Kent, 209. 

King Archon, Athenian, 120, 121. 
Kuiii;lits, the. a social class among 
the^Gauls, 210, 211. 

La-bie'nus, 215, 216. 

La-er'tes, 45 and note 2. 

Lam'a-chus, 91. 

Lar'ci-us, Spu'ri-iis, 162. 

Lars Por'se-ua, 161, 163, 164. 

Lat'ins, the. 155, 164, 172. 

La-ti'nus, 155. 

Latium (lu'.sbl-^m), 154, 164, 167, 
171, 231, note 3. 

Lato'na, 48, note 2, 

La'tiis cla'vus, 219 and note 1, 223. 

La-vin'i-a, 155. 

Laviuium, 155. 

Len'tu-lus, Cor-ne'li-us, 181, 182. 

Le-on'i-das, his defense of Thermop- 
yla', 76-79. 

Leon-na'tus, 140. 

Lep'i-dus, 202. 

Letters of the Younger Pliny, ex- 
tracts, 240-252. 

Leuctra (luk'tra), battle of, 130. 

Lib'y-a, 3 and note 1. 

Li-gu-ri'nus. 254. 

Lives of the Twelve Ca'sars, extracts, 
218-226. 

Liv'y, a Roman historian, 154 ; le- 
gends of early Rome as given by, 
155-173; his account of Hanni- 
bal and the Second Punic War, 175- 
181. 

Lo'cris, 80. 

Lo-cus'ta, 228. 

Lucretia (lu-kre'shi-d), 160. 

Lu'crine Lake, 231, 232. 

Lu'si-a, 116. 

Lyceum (ll-se'«m), the, 121 and 
note 1. 

Ly'ci-us, 117. 

Ly-cur'gus, an Athenian noble, 58, 
59; a legendary reformer of Spar- 
tan society, 63-68. 

Lyd'i-a, 13, 71, lOS, note 5. 

Mac'e-do, Lar'gi-ns, 245. 
Macedonia (mils-e-do'iil-f(), rise of, 
under Philip II, 129-132; revolt 



of the Greeks against, 135; Alex- 
ander the Great, king of, 138. 

Ma-cro'nes, 118. 

Ma!-ce'iias, gardens of, 233. 

M;e'li-us, Spu'ri-us, 200 and note 
3. 

Maui (ma'jl), Persian priests, 10 
and note 2, 12, 72. 

Ma'go, 181. 

Ma-har'bal, 181, 183. 

Man, Island of, 209. 

Man'li-us, Mar'cus, defends the 
Capitol against the Gauls, 170 ; 
is condemned to death, 171, 172, 
200. 

Mar'a-thon, battle of, 69, 134. 

Mar (lo'ni-us, 70, 84. 

.^lar.s, 155, 259. 

Mar'.sy-as, a satyr, 100 and note 2, 
256 and note 2. 

Martial (milr'shi-^rl), Roman satiric 
poet, 253 ; describes some features 
of Roman society, 253-256; pic- 
tures life at Rome and in Italy, 
256-260. 

Mas-i-nis'sa. 191. 

Mas-sa-ge'tfe, a Scythian tribe, 19, 
20. 

Medes, 11, 13. 

Me'di-a, 143. 

Medicine, Egyptian practice of, 5. 

Med-i-ter-ra'ne-an Sea, 186. 

Meg'a-cles, 55, 57, 58 and note 1, 
59. 

Meg'a-ra, 58 and note 3, 131. 

Mel-e-a'ger, 257, note 1. 

Me-le'tus, 121, 123. 

Memphis (mgm'fis), 20. 

Men-e-la'us, 26, 30, 31. 

Me'non, 109, note 2, 110. 

Me-tho'ne, 131. 

Mi 'das, 139. 

Mi'di-as, 104. 

Mi-le'tus, 54. 

Miner'va, 231. 

^li'nos, 124. 

Mi-se'niuu, 230 and note 2, 231 and 
note 2, 248-250. 

Mo-ne'ta, Temple of, 172. 

^loney. Spartan, 67 and note 2. 

Morals, Spartan, 67, 68; German, 
266. 

Mycena' (me-se'ne), 26. 

Mythology, Greek, 46-52. 



276 



INDEX 



Na'ples, Bay of, 249, note 1. 

Nausicaa (no-slk'a-d), 39, 40. 

Nax'os, battle of, 130, note 2. 

Ne-ar'chus, 148. 

Nep'tune, 156. 

Ne'ro, becoines emperor, 227 ; 
causes the murder of Britannicus, 
228-230 ; plots the death of Agrip- 
pina, 230-232 ; degree of his re- 
sponsibility for the burning of 
Rome, 232, note 2, 233 ; persecutes 
the Christians, 234, 23."); orders 
Seneca and Petronius to commit 
suicide, 235-238 ; his own end, 238, 
239. 

Nes'tor, 253 and note 2. 

Nicias (nish'e^as), 91, 93. 94, 96. 

Nineveh (nln'e-v6), 8, 143. 

Ni-sse'a, 58. 

Nissean plain, in Media, 73 and note 
1. 

No-men'tum, 258 and note 2. 

North Sea, 204. 

Nu'ma, 254 and note 1. 

Nu-mid'i-a, 191. 

Nu'mi-tor, 155. 

0-ba-ri'tus, 232. 

Ocean River, the, 36 and note 2, 
48, 52. 

Oc-ta'vi-a, sister of Augustus, 221 ; 
sister of Britannicus and wife of 
Nero, 229 and note 1. 

Oc-ta'vi-us, Gai'us Ju'li-us Cae'sar 
Oc-ta-vi-a'nus (Au-gus'tus), be- 
comes a member of the Second 
Triumvirate, 202 ; his judgment 
of Cicero, 203 and note 1 ; personal 
traits of, according to Suetonius, 
221-226. 

Odysseus (6-dls'us) • reproves and 
punishes Thersites, 29, 30; meets 
Nausicaa, 40, 41 ; entertained by 
King Alcinous, 41, 42; returns to 
Ithaca, 42; takes vengeance on 
the suitors, 45. 

Odyssey (6d'l-sl), extracts, 39-45. 
Sec also Homeric poems. 

ffi-ba'res, 23. 

0-lvm'pic games, 15, 55, 57, 105, 
187. 

Olympus, Mount, 28, 47, 48, 50, 
51. 

O-lyn'thus, 131. 



Omens, 23, 72, 73, 80, 155, 156, 
264, 265. 
O'pis, 150. 

O-si'ris, 5 and note 1. 
Othrys (oth'ris). Mount, 47. 
Ox-y-ar'tes, 145, 146. 

Pa^'an, the, 92 and note 4. 

Pal'a-tine Hill, 155, 158, 196 and 
note 2, 223, 233. 

Pal'es-tine, 142. 

Pan-cra'ti-um, the, 119 and note 1. 

Pan-do'ra, 50 and note 2. 

Pa-pil'li-us, 202. 

Pa-pir'i-us, Mar'cus, 169. 

Parallel Lives, Plutarch's, 98; ex- 
tracts, 98-107. 186-192. 

Par'is, son of Priam, 26, 30, 31. 

Par-nas'sus, Mount, 80 and note 1. 

Pa'ter Pa'tH-ff, 199. 

Pa-tro'clus, slain by Hector, 33 ; 
funeral rites of, 37, 38. 

Pau-li'na, 236. 

Pau'lus, Lu'ci-us ^-mil'i-us, 180- 
182. 

Pel-o-pon-ne'sian War, 85-87, 89, 
91, 97, 98, 106, 109, 120, 129, 130, 
note 1. 

Pel-o-pon-ne'sus, the, 86, 87, 131. 

Pe-nel'o-pe, wife of Odysseus, 39, 
45. 

Per-i-an'der, tyrant of Corinth, 53, 
54. 

Per'i-cles, the funeral speech deliv- 
ered by, 87-89; an anecdote of 
Alcibiades and, 102. 

Per-seph'o-ne, 48, note 2. 

Per-sep'o-lis, 144. 

Per'si-ans, their customs, 9-12; his- 
tory of, under Cyrus, Camby- 
ses and Darius, 13-25 ; their in- 
vasion of Greece under Xerxes, 
69-84. 

Pe-te'line grove, 172. 

Pe-ti'li-an, 258. 

Pe-tro'ni-us, Gai'us, death of, 237, 
238. 

Pluvacians (fe-a'sh^ms), 39, 41, 42. 

Pha-gi'ta'^, Cor-ne'li-us, 220. 

Pha'on, 238. 

Phar-sa'lus, battle of, 220. 

Phi-le'mon, 220. 

Phil'ip, II, king of IMacedonia, be- 
comes a power in Greek politics. 



INDEX 



277 



129, 130 ; his aggressions described 
by Demosthenes ill the Tldnl PJii- 
lippic, 129-132 ; assassination of, 
138. 

Phi-lip' pics, of Demosthenes, 129 ; 
of Cicero, 199, 202. 

Philistine (fi-lis'tln), 142. 

Pliocis (fo'sis), 130, 131. 

Phoinicia (ie-uish'l a), 144. 

Pha'nicians, 43. 44. 

Phrygia (frij'i d), 108, note 5, 139. 

Phy'a, 59. 

Pi-ce'ni-an, 257. 

Pinxjus (pl-re'«s), the port of Ath- 
ens, 91 and note 3. 

Pi-sis-trat'i-dte, the, 82 and note 1. 

Pi-sis'tra-tus, tyrant of Athens, 58- 
60. 

Phi-tit'a, battle of, 84, 134. 

Pla'to, his Dialogues, 120 ; de.scrip- 
tioii of the trial and death of Socra- 
tes by, 120-128. 

Plin'y the Elder, a great Roman 
scholar, 243 and note 2, 244, 248 
and note 3. 

Plin'y the Younger, the Letters of, 
240 ! his wife Calpurnia, 240, 241 ; 
visits Spurinna, 241-243; his uncle, 
Pliny the Elder, 243, 244 ; describes 
some features of Roman society, 
244-248 ; an eyewitness of the 
eruption of Vesuvius, 248-250; his 
treatment of the Christians in Asia 
Minor, 250-252 ; his characteriza- 
tion of Martial, 253. 

Plutarch (ploo'tiirk), Greek biogra- 
pher, 98 ; his life of Alcibiades, 
98-107 : his life of Cato the Cen- 
sor, 186-192. 

Po River, 175. 

Polity of the Lacedcemonians, ex- 
tracts, 63-68. 

Pol'li-o, Ju'li-us. 228. 

Po-lyb'i-us, 188 and note 2. 

Po-lyc'ra-tes, tyrant of Samos, 60- 
62. 

Pom'pey, 219. 

Pom-po'ni-us, Marcus, 177. 

Pon'ti-us Pi-la'tus, 234. 

Pon'tus, 250, note 2. 

Po'rus, 147. 

Poseidon (po si'don), 38, 47, 48, 135, 
136. 

Pot i-djc'a, 85, 86 and note 1, 103. 



Pra^-nes'te, 259, note 5. 
Prex-as'pes, his son murdered by 

Cambyses, 21, 22. 
Pri'am, 26, 31, 38, 154. 
Priesthood, Egyptian, 3; Persian, 

10; Gallic, 210', 211. 
Proc'u-lus Ju'li-us, 159. 
Prometheus (pro-me'thus), creates 

man, 49 ; deceives Zeus, 49; steals 

fire from heaven, 49, 50. 
Pros'er-pine, 234. 
Prox'e-nus, 110. 
Pru'si-as, 184, 185. 
Pryt-a-ne'um, the. 137 and note 1. 
Ptolemy (toi'e-ml), 138, 142. 
Pu'nic War, the First, 173, note 

1 : Second, 174, 183 ; Third, 191, 

192. 
Punjab (pun-jilb'), 147. 
Pyr'e-nees Mountains, 175. 
Pyth'o-ness, the, 81. 

Quin'tus, 254. 
Qui-ri'tes, 159. 

R;B'ti-an wine, 224. 

Re-gil'lus, Lake, battle of, 164. 

Religion, Egyptian, 2-5; Persian, 
9, 10 ; German, 212, 264, 265. 

Re'mus, birth of, 155 ; slain by 
Romulus, 156. 

Rhadamanthus (rad-d-mau'thtis), 
124. 

Rhea (re'd), 47. 

Rhe'a Sil'via, 155. 

Rhine River, bridged by Cwsar, 
205 and note 1. 

Rhone River, 175 and note 1. 

Rome, founded by Romulus, 155, 
156 ; legends of the regal period, 
156-164 ; becomesa republic, 164 ; 
border wars with the Volscians 
and ^Equians, 164, 165, 167, KiS, 
171; warfare with Veil, 165, 166, 
168; captured by the Gauls, 168- 
171 ; becomes mistress of central 
Italy, 172, 173; wages the Second 
Punic War, 174-184 ; burning of, 
232-234 ; discomforts of life at, ac- 
cording to ]\r;irtia1, 258, 259. 

Rom'u-lus;. birth of, 155; founds 
Rome, 156; death of, 158, 159. 

Ros'tra, the. 3(13. 

Rox-a'ua, 146. 



278 



INDEX 



Sab'bath, the. 224 and note 2. 

ba'biucs, their women seized by the 
Romans, 157; war between, and 
Romans, 157, 158 ; union with 
Rome, 158. 

Sacred War, Second, 131 and note 2. 

Sacrifice, Persian mode of, 10 ; 
Greek legend concerning origin 
of animal. 49; offering by Xerxes 
to the Hellespont, 75; offerings 
by the Ten Thousand Greeks, 
113, 118 ; Gallic custom of human, 
211. 

Sa-gun'tum, 174. 

Sa'is, 20. 

Sal'a-mis, battle of, 82, 83 and note 
2, 134. 

Sam'nites, 154, 172. 

Sam'ni-um, 183. 

Sa'mos, 60. 

Sar-din'i-a. 187. 

Sar'dis, capital of Lydia, 14, 55, 63, 
71, 72, 109. 

Sat'urn. See Saturnus. 

Sat-ur-na'li-a, the festival of Satur- 
nus (Saturn), 224 and note 1, 228. 

Sa-tur'nus, 224, note 1, 228. 

Scitv'o-la, Mu'ci-us, heroism of, 
163, 164. 

Scheria (ske'ri d), island of, 39. 

Scip'i-o, Pub'li-cus Cor-ne'li-us, 
184, 191 ; ^-mil-i-a'nus, 188 and 
note 2; Na-si'ca, 192. 

Scythia (sith'i-d), Cyrus the Great 
in Asiatic, 18-20; Darius the Great 
in European, 24, 25, 69. 

Senate, the Carthaginian, 174, 184; 
the Roman, 163, 165, 167, 177, 178, 
182, 188, 191, 193-200, 219, 225, 
238. 

Senate-house, the Roman, 177, 198. 

Sen'e-ca, death of, 235-237. 

Sex'tus, 255. 

Sib'yl-line Books, 178 and note 1, 
234. 

Sicilian (si-sil'i-^ai) expedition, de- 
scribed by Thucydides, 91-97. 

Sicily, 91, 96, 106, 193, 195. 

Sicyon (sish'ion), 54, 55. 

Si'don, 43 and note 2, 74. 

Slaves, Roman, 245, 246, 354, 256 ; 
German, 268. 

Sraer'dis, brother of Cambyses, 21, 
22 ; the false, 22. 



Soc'ra-tes, his friendship for Alci- 
biades, 100, 102 ; his career as a 
philosopher, 120 ; his trial and 
death as described by Plato, 120- 
128. 

Sog di-a'na, 145, 146. 

Soion, his interview with Crasus, 
14-16. 

Spain, 175, 209. 

Spar-ga-pi'ses, 19. 

Spar'sus, 258. 

Spar'ta, Meuelaus legendary king 
of, 26; aids the Alcmteonid* in 
expelling Hippias from Athens, 
60; education and social life at, 
63-68; receives no heralds from 
Xerxes, 71 ; sends Leonidas to 
Thermopylfe, 76 ; the Spartan de- 
fense of the pass, 76-79 ; charac- 
teristicsof, and Athens, contrasted, 
86, 87 ; war declared between, and 
Athens, 87 ; sends aid to Syracuse, 
93 

Spo'rus, 238. 

Spn-rin'na, 241-243. 

Sta'ti-us An-nae'us, 236. 

Stel'la, 257. 

Steph'a-nus, 257. 

Sto'i-cism, 235, 255 and note 1. 

Strj^'mon River, 71 and note 1. 

Sub-li'ci-an Bridge, 161, 162. 

Su-e'bi, 205, 206. 

Sue-to'ni-us Tran-quil'lus, Gai'us, 
his Lives of the Twelve Cfcsars, 218 ; 
his character sketch of Julius Coe- 
sar, 218-221 ; his account of Caesar 
Augustus, 221-225. 

Su-o;am'bri, 205, 206. 

SuPla, 219, 220. 

Su'sa, 143, 150. 

Syr-a-cu.se', 91, 93, 97. See also 
Sicilian expedition. 

Syr'i-a, 141, 234. note 2. 

Swit'zer-land, 204. 

Tacitus (tils'i-t«s), Cornelius, a 
Roman historian, 227 ; his accoiuit 
of Nero's reign, 228-237 ; his des- 
cription of the Germans, 261-268. 

Ta-o'chi-ans, 115-117. 

Tarpeiau (tilr-pe'y^m) Rock, 172. 

Tarpeius (tar-pe'y«s), Spurius, 
157. 

Tar-quiu'i-us Col-la-ti'nus, 160, 



INDEX 



279 



161 ; Sex'tus, 159, 160; Su-per'bus 
(the "Proud"), 159-161, 164, 178 
note 1, 200. 
Tar'ta-rus, 48. 
Tau're-as, 105. 

Te-lem'a-clius, son of Odysseus, 30, 
45. 
Ten Thousand, expedition of the 

108-119. 
Thal'lus, 222. 
Thap'sacus, 109. 
Thc'bans, 78, 79, 1-33, 134. 
Thebes (thebz), 51, 132 
The'ches, 117. 
The-og'o-ny. extracts, 46-50. 
The-o-phras'tus, 104 and note 2. 
Ther-mop'y-lae, Pass of, the en- 
trance to central Greece, 76; de- 
fentied by the Spartans under 
Leonidas, 76-79. 
Ther-sl'tes, 29, 30 and note 1. 
Thes'pi-ans, 78, 79. 
Thes.saly (thgs'ali), 76, 131. 
The'tis, 33, 36. 

Thirty Years' Truce, 87 and note 1, 
Ihrace (thras), Darius the Great in 
24, 69; Xerxes in, 75, 76 ; overruii 
by Philip II, 129; Alexander the 
Great in, 138. 
Thras-y-bu'lus. 54. 160, note 1. 
Thusydides (tht5-sid'I-dez), his 
history of the Pelopounesian War 
85; contrasts the Spartans and 
the Athenians, 85-87; reports a 
funeral speech by Pericles, 87-89- 
describes the plague at Athens,' 
89-91 ; describes the Sicilian ex- 
pedition, 91-97. 
Ti'ber River, 155, 162, 165. 167 
Ti-be-ri'nus, god of the river Tiber 

162 and note 1. 
Ti-be'ri-us, 224, 227, 234. 
Ti-ci'nus, battle of the, 177 
Ti-gel-li'nus, 237. 
Ti'gris River, 8, 1.50. 
Ti'mon, 106 and note 1. 
Ti-san'der, 56. 
Tis-sa-pher'nc'S, 109 
Ti'tans. 47, 48. 
Ti'tus Ta'ti-iis, 1.57, 1.58. 
Tom'y-ris, her blood v vengeance 
on Cyrus the Great, 19, 20 
Tra chin'ians, 79. 
Tra'jan, Roman emperor, corre- 



spondence of the Younger Plinv 
with. 250-252. 

Transmigration of souls, Egyptian 
belief m, 5 ; teachings of the Dru- 
ids concerning, 211. 

Tra-pe'zus, 118. 119." 

Tras-i-me'nus, Lake, battle at 177 
180, 183. ' ' 

Tre'bi-a, battle of the, 177, 180 

Trip-tol'e-mus, 124. 

Triumvirate, Second, 202 

Troy, 26, 51, 74, 139, 154, 233. 

Tuc'ca, 256. 

Tyrant, Greek conception of the 

53. ' 

Tyre (tir), 141, 143. 

U'bi-i, 205, 206. 
U'ra-nus, 47. 

Var'ro, 180, 184 and note 1 

Veil (ve'yl), an Etruscan citv, 165- 
tlie war against, conducted'by the 
h abii, 165, 166 ; captured bv Camil- 
1ns, 168; a refuge for the Romans 
after the battle of the Allia, 168 
1/1. ' 

Ve-la'bri-an, 257. 

Ven'e-ti, 205. 

Ve'nus, 178. 

Ve nu'si-a, 182 and note 1 

Ver-cas-si-ve-lau'nus, 215 and note 

Vcr-cin-get'o-rix, hero of the Gallic 
revolt, 214-217. 

Ver'gil. 255. 257. 

Ve-ro'na. 246 and note 2. 

V er'res, Gai'us, a grasping Gover- 
nor of Sicily. 193-195 

Ves-pa'si-an, 243 and note 3 

Ves'tal Vir'gins, 155, 191. 

Ve-sii'vi-us, eruption of, described 
by Plmy the Younger, 248-250 

Ve-tu'ri-a, 165. 

Vi-ni'ci-us, Lu'ei-us, 221. 

Volsciaus (vol'.sh(?ns), 164 167 
171. ' ' 

Vo-lum'ni-a, 165. 
Vul'can, 234. 



Wine, R;ptian, 224 ; Falernian, 258 
and note 5. 

WorkH and Dai/x, extract, 50-52 
Writing, Egyptian, 2 and note 3. 



28o 



INDEX 



Xeuophon (zen'o-fiyn), an Athenian 
historian and essayist, 63; his ac- 
count of Spartan society, 63-68 ; 
his account of tlie expedition of 
the Ten Tliousand, 108-119 ; a pu- 
pil and biographer of Socrates, 120, 
123. 

Xerxes (zurk'zez), -prepares to in- 
vade Greece, 69-71 ; chastises the 
Hellespont, 72; crosses the Helles- 
pont, 74, 75; reviews his troops, 
75, 76 ; at ThermopyLT, 76-79 ; 
captures the Athenian Acropolis, 



81, 82 ; witnesses the battle of 
Salamis, 82-84. 

Za'ma, battle of, 184. 

Zeus (zus), identified with the Per- 
sian Ahura-Mazda, 10 and note 1 ; 
sends a deceitful dream to Aga- 
memnon, 27; prayer of Hector to, 
32 ; his war with the Titans, 47, 
48; deceived by Prometheus, 49, 
50; creates Pandora, 50; creates 
the five races of man, 51, 52; the 
Savior, 118, 237, note 1. 



t- 



MAY 29 1913 



